Lucky Souls
by Mushy Peaches
Summary: When Konata's father mysteriously vanishes, she and her friends brave the baneful fog of the kingdom of Boletaria, a land of demons, in search of him. Out of their minds, and in over their heads, they fight for love, one another, and to survive. Konami
1. Wherever You Go, I Shall Follow

**Lucky Souls**

**Author's Prelude: Well, let's get this gravy train rollin'. Curl up with me now, and let me serenade you into a false sense of security.  
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_**On the first day man was granted a soul, and with it, clarity. **_

_**On the second day upon the Earth was planted an irrevocable poison. **_

_**A Soul-Devouring demon…**_

_**King Allant the twelfth, by channeling the power of souls, brought unprecedented prosperity to his northern kingdom of Boletaria…**_

…_**That is, until the colorless Deep Fog spread across the land.**_

_**Boletaria was cut off from the outside world, and those who dared penetrate the Deep Fog never returned. **_

_**But Minoru of the royal Twin Hosts broke free from the fog and told the world of Boletaria's plight. **_

_**That the Great King Allant had aroused the Old One, the great beast below the Nexus, from its eternal slumber. **_

_**And that a colorless fog had swept in, unleashing terrible demons. **_

_**The demons hunt down men and claim their souls.**_

_**Those who lose their souls also lose their minds. **_

_**The mad attack the sane, and chaos reigns. **_

_**Minoru spoke of the enticing power of the demon souls. **_

_**Each time a demon claims a human soul, the demon's own soul is invigorated by the life force. **_

_**And the power of a mature demon soul is beyond human imagination. **_

_**The legend spread quickly. Mighty warriors were drawn to the accursed land, but none have returned. **_

_**Akira of the Twin Hosts. **_

_**Kuroi, the Silent Scholar.**_

_**Sage Ayano. **_

_**Patricia, the Wanderer. **_

_**The Sixth Saint Yutaka, and her knight Minami Iwasaki. **_

_**And Sage Hiyori, the Visionary. **_

_**The colorless Deep Fog slowly creeps beyond Boletaria's borders. **_

_**Humankind faces a slow and steady extinction. **_

_**The Deep Fog will eventually swallow all lands near and far…**_

…_**But Boletaria has one final hope. A band of young warriors, who have braved the baneful fog.**_

_**Has the land found its saviors, or have the demons found new slaves? **_

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**Chapter 1: Wherever You Go, I Shall Follow...**

Night had fallen, and with it darkness. This shadow had slowly crept over the lands of Boletaria, as the sun had slowly sunk below the horizon. The forests of Boletaria, at the foot of its mighty and dizzying mountain ranges, were particularly dark and dank as the light of the day slowly vanished, and any who were traversing them, especially during this hour, were more than likely to get lost.

Trudging along, four young girls heaved their way through the dampness of the forest in an almost dead silence, filled only by their hard breathing as they struggle to take just one more step, being pushed on by their short, blue-haired leader. They cannot stop, they must not stop, they set out to these cursed lands on a mission, and they cannot give in to their base human weaknesses such as fatigue. They must be on a higher plane of existence than that, or this dreary and dangerous land would surely eat them alive. However, walking for twelve hours straight could make anyone beg for a break, even the mightiest of warriors. These girls however, are not mighty warriors, and the simple fact that they were still heaving along, carrying their weapons, and gear, not to mention themselves, was nothing short of a miracle.

"Konata, we're setting up camp. I'm not asking this time, I'm telling. My sister is tired, I'm tired, and Miyuki is tired. We're _stopping, _and there will be no discussion about it." A crabbed retort from a girl with purple hair tied in two twin tails, whose shorter, more eccentric companion had just begun to suggest they go a little while further for the fifth time that hour.

"Kagamin, just a little—"

"Don't you say it! I swear to god Konata, don't you say it again." An equally crabbed and fiery response from the bluenette's weary companion.

Looking back and forth between her three friends, the young girl named Konata couldn't exactly disagree. They were tired, they were hungry, and they had been walking for hours through this musty and densely fogged forest with no end in sight, and surely no end for quite some time. One little break couldn't hurt, right?

Heaving a sigh, Konata conceived, she couldn't exactly win in an argument when she saw her merry band of friends in such a weak and depressing state, and she sure couldn't be the one to heave them onto her not so broad shoulders and bend her not so supportive legs in a futile attempt to carry them all.

"Alright. We'll set up camp, I wanted to catch up on some 'readings' anyway. I've fallen behind you see, on my 'readings'. In fact my 'readings'…" With each sound of the word readings, the bluenette made quotations with her fingers, trying to not so subtly imply what her readings may be, but she only received two half-hearted smiles, from two half-understanding friends. And one half-murderous smile, from one half-listening friend.

"We get it, Konata. You like to read dirty books. You don't have to announce it in front of my sister, and if you just have to read them, could it not be out loud? Just for once? Just tonight? My feet haven't ached like this in forever…it feels like I have rocks in my soles…" Kagami complained, slowly sitting down and removing her boots, and tenderly rubbing the walk-weary feet from within.

Collapsing down next to her friend, Konata quickly wrapped an arm around the lilac-haired girls shoulder, placing the book in front of them as she did so. "I'll make sure just you and I can hear it Kagamin, don't worry!" The bluenette cooed as she tenderly rubbed a cheek on her friend's shoulder, only to be rejected post-haste and pushed roughly into the dirt.

"How about you just shut up and let me sleep for once?" Kagami groaned, turning her back on her friend and laying on the hard, muddy ground of the forest. Resting her weary and now slightly pounding head on her not-so-comfortable backpack.

"Aw Kagami! You're just bashful. It's alright, I know your dere-dere side can't come out voluntarily, special requirements need to be fulfilled, or certain circumstances need to be taking place, maybe if it were just the two of us in the forest? Alone? Under the dark night sky, filled and illuminated with brilliant stars and—"

"One, not ever happening! Two, it's cloudy! Three, shut up!" Kagami hushed rather loudly, a furious crimson blush beginning to envelop her face as she hoped her sister and Miyuki were too tired to care to listen to Konata's antics and mock flirting.

Shrugging it off, Konata decided her tsundere had suffered enough punishment and teasing for one evening, and crawling on all fours, the young girl made her way over to her two friends, Tsukasa and Miyuki, who were currently preparing some sort of herbs and forest mushroom stew on their makeshift fire, and their hand-me-down pot.

"Whatcha' makin'?" Konata asked with a sniff, letting her nose hang in the air for just a moment as the younger of the two lilac haired twins managed a smile.

"I don't know exactly. Miyuki-Chan found some really tasty looking mushrooms earlier, and said they didn't look poisonous, so I decided to try putting them with the last of our herbs and spices, and see what happens, I guess." Tsukasa admitted rather bashfully, a little ashamed that for all her culinary prowess, she couldn't even divulge what she was making to those she was serving up to, as she was not fully aware of what exactly was in the strange concoction.

Lifting up a book she was reading, and pressing her glasses up the brim of her nose, Miyuki leaned over to her bluenette friend, showing her a page within. "It's this mushroom here, the Boletaria Ruthencap, it's supposedly very tasty when mixed with spices found around the kingdom, so I suggested that Tsukasa-Chan make some of it, it did look filling after all."

Eyeing the brew once more, Konata shrugged, leaning back on her palms and staring over at her pretending to be sleeping tsundere. "Well, anything's better than the swamp-paste stew Kagami made for us last night, my stomach felt like it was being consumed in a black hole or somethin'..." Konata cheered with a laugh, throwing her hands up into the air illustratively to make her point, knowing her tsundere could take _one more _joke before snapping.

Trying to control her bubbling rage, Kagami clenched and ground her teeth, struggling with all her might to not stand up and clobber her friend into the dust, in front of her sister even, she was that steamed. "It was vegetable soup, thank you very much!" Kagami called out, her back still turned towards her friends.

"_Vegetables! _Then what the heck were those black squishy things?" Konata asked, genuinely interested now, but only receiving a low-pitched rumble of a growl in response, and with a grin, she decided to leave it at that.

"Anyway…hey, Miyuki, how much farther 'til we reach the Boletarian palace anyway?" Konata asked as she lay back, resting her hands behind her head and staring up into the towering trees which blanketed the forest in darkness.

At her friend's question, the pink-haired moe-blob of a woman slowly reached into her pack and pulled out a large and detailed map, showing the various greater cities and landmarks around the small mountain kingdom of Boletaria. Although the map had been made before the colorless fog had enveloped the land, and no doubt many cities and landmarks were gone completely, it still proved useful in order to find some of them, and to keep them going in the right direction.

"Well…we passed through the fissure around three days ago…travelling around three miles per hour, and travelling for about twelve to fourteen hours every day…we've traveled anywhere between one-hundred and eight and one-hundred and twenty-six miles. Meaning if we keep at this pace, we should be at the slope of the palace by mid-day tomorrow assuming no other circumstances arise." Miyuki explained, with her companions only hearing the last part, that they were almost there, and that they could finally reach the place they had been seeking for several weeks now.

"It's strange." Tsukasa chimed in. "We've broke through the fog almost three days ago, but haven't been attacked by any monsters or demons or anything." Tsukasa had noticed, sharing glances between her two friends, and turning Konata's grin into an uneasy smile.

"I guess we're lucky, but let's not jinx ourselves now, eh?" Konata said with a nervous laugh, her two friends' warm smiles turning into frowns, each one giving off a small gulp in response.

"Well, actually, the reason is most likely that we're still within the outer fog. And that any real dangers are within the mountain ranges of the palace and its surrounding cities. I don't really think luck has anything to do with it." Miyuki explained knowledgeably once more, this time raising her pointer to the air as she did so.

Feeling slightly better that they weren't in any immediate danger at the moment; Konata couldn't shirk an inkling feeling that had begun to swell up inside of her. The inner fog was dangerous? That certainly wouldn't make their mission any easier. Not to mention the person they sought would likely either be dead by now, considering said danger, or in danger themselves. "Do you think…he's still alive?" Konata quietly asked, a hint of unusual sadness present within her voice.

Seriously considering it for a moment, Miyuki didn't know what to say. There was certainly the possibility that the one they so feverishly sought out was still alive and intact, but those were very low odds. The fog was filled with innumerable and unbelievable dangers, ones that even those with special training of the most elite kinds could not easily face. The entire country of Boletaria, even with its mighty army and warriors, were no match for the demons that consumed their land once the fog set in. How could one person, alone, with little to no training at all ever hope to survive in such a damned place?

Miyuki couldn't simply tell her dear friend this, however. No matter how terrible the chances of their target's survival, she wouldn't get anywhere by telling everyone how hopeless it was, even if it in fact, _was _hopeless.

"I'm…I'm sure he's fine." Miyuki quietly responded, twiddling her thumbs in her lap and averting her gaze from her questioning friend.

Staring back and forth between her two friends, Tsukasa managed to heave a light sigh. And rolling onto the ground and her side, decided to go to sleep without interjecting. What could she say? Nothing she would believe herself. She could tell Konata it would be alright, that their mission would be a success, and they could all go home together, but that didn't mean she believed any of it.

Not accepting the answer placed before her, Konata grumbled something under her breath, and stood up to take a walk, feeling her shoulders actually sink lower as she did so.

"I-Izumi-San! Please don't go too far!" Miyuki called out, only receiving a wave of the hand from her bluenette friend in response.

Walking far enough away from the campsite, Konata turned just to make sure she was a safe distance, and placing her hands over her mouth, she screamed in frustration, her muffling screech being ended with a painful punch to a nearby tree. She felt like crying, like giving up here and now, but she couldn't cry, and she certainly couldn't give up. She had come too far, and she had dragged all of her friends with her, she certainly couldn't tell them to just give up and go home, it was too late for that.

Kicking at several rocks with her toes as she caught her breath from her yell, Konata plopped down onto her bottom, now deciding to pick up the rocks and toss them into the small pond in front of her, causing tiny ripples that seemed to be the only movement around her within the dead forest.

Konata felt like this was somehow her fault, like the one she sought left because of her. Was it her fault? Did he hate her? Blame her for something she did, but could not remember? These and many more thoughts raced throughout the young girls head. She didn't know why he left, nobody did, he just up and vanished without a word, note, or without telling anyone. He wasn't the type to do this, Konata had thought, he was a gentle and caring man, and wouldn't do this to those he cared about the most. Lately though, Konata had begun to notice his slight depression, in the simplest and subtlest of things. The slight curve of his wily smile, the ever-present bags under his eyes, his constant fatigue, he was not as happy as he let on, surely.

Scratching at the dirt beneath her, Konata looked to the sky. She couldn't see it, hidden behind the towering and almost monstrous trees, but she knew it was late, and if they wanted to reach the Boletarian palace the next day, she would need her rest. Standing up to leave, the bluenette was suddenly halted by something. It seemed to grab at her feet, tug at her stomach, and wrench behind her eyes. She didn't know why, but for a brief second, she became immobile, and in the second following, a bright light suddenly appeared behind her.

She didn't need to think, only one word came to mind, demon, and with a swift and graceful movement she tore her sword from its sheath to face it, only to be met by nothing. Nothing, but a ball of radiant and golden light.

"W-What the…?" She shakily said to herself, lowering her sword and taking a step backwards, mesmerized by the small light in the everlasting darkness around her. She didn't know what to do, should she wake the others? The light didn't seem threatening, but it didn't exactly put her at ease either, and carefully, she put it to the test, and reached her hand out to it.

"Brave soul, who fears not death." The light suddenly beckoned to her, causing Konata to almost yelp in surprise. It spoke! The light had spoken to her, perhaps it was a demon after all, but she couldn't know, she couldn't ask, as it interrupted her before she could even manage a thought.

"I shall guide you." The light spoke once more. It spoke in many voices, at first, it sounded like a woman. But at second listen, it could be a man, or even a child, she didn't know. "So that you may lull the Old One back to slumber."

"What…? What are you talking about?" Konata asked quietly, growing ever more confused by the ball of light she was having a conversation with, which sounded odd in and of itself.

"Be not afraid." The light quietly said, and before Konata could respond, it shot off through the forest.

She didn't know why, and she did it without thought, but Konata's small legs suddenly began to work on their own. She felt the gears that turned within them suddenly slicked with grease. It was a slow run at first, a light jog, but that quickly turned into a full on sprint, her muscles burning and stretching past their limit as she pushed with all of her might to keep up with the radiating globe that seemed to get ever farther away.

"Wait! Please, come back!" Konata screamed out at the top of her lungs, throwing an arm forward in a futile attempt to grab onto the light several meters ahead of her.

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"What was that?" Kagami sounded, sitting up quickly with sword in hand. "Konata?" She asked, turning her head around the campsite, but seeing only her other two companions. "Konata!" Kagami called out once more, this time waking her two friends from their equally light slumbers.

"Onee-Chan…? What's going on…?" Tsukasa sleepily asked, rubbing her eyes as she sat up from her makeshift mat of a bed.

"Where's Konata? I just heard—"

"Stop! Please!" A voice suddenly called out in the distance, and at that, Kagami didn't need an answer, she shot off into the woods, fire in her eyes as she did so.

"O-onee-Chan!" Tsukasa now asked worriedly, standing up herself, followed by Miyuki, who confusedly gave pursuit to their compassionate friend, who seemed to disappear into the darkness ahead of them.

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It was too much, too much for even her. Konata was no slouch when it came to running, one might even say she was incredibly talented at it, but this was too much. She was competing against an otherworldly force, one that didn't require rest, and for who speed and distance were not a problem. Coming to a stop next to a tree, Konata gave up, supporting herself against it, her knees ready to buckle and give way at any moment.

She could only watch as the orb of gold vanished into the darkness, and she could only grumble as a lump appeared within her throat.

"What was that thing anyway?" Konata quietly questioned to no one in particular. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it felt nostalgic, warm almost. Something about the light gave her a sense of comfort, and she needed to know why she felt this way. She wouldn't know now, she couldn't, the light was gone as fast as it came.

"Konata!" A voice suddenly screamed behind her, and turning around slowly, the bluenette spotted her three sweaty and hard-breathing companions, who had likely just tried to run after her, she thought.

"Kagami I—"

A slap from her tsundere suddenly cut her off, a slightly sweaty palm coming crashing down upon her cheek, causing her to stumble back for a moment, and instinctively reach up and grasp the afflicted area.

However, before she could respond with anger, surprise or anything, she was cut off again, this time by a crushing hug, and two gentle arms fiercely wrapped around her frame. "Konata…you're such an idiot." Kagami shakily whispered, squeezing her arms as hard as she could around her tiny companion. She feared the worst when her friend was nowhere to be seen, and feared worse than that when she began screaming. The kingdom of Boletaria was now the deadliest place on their small planet, filled with dangers most inhuman, and when situations such as this arise, you can do nothing but fear the worst.

The older Hiiragi twin felt her cheeks subconsciously flare up, and turn a deep shade of crimson, but she didn't care. Her dear friend was safe, unharmed, and back with her. Trying to let go, she found she couldn't, as her blue-haired friend had now wrapped her own arms around her with equal unbreakable force.

"Konata, what happened?" Kagami asked as she steadily pried her way out of the bear hug, scratching her cheek to alleviate some of the crackling feeling she felt within it.

"I…I can't explain it. I was just gonna take a little walk, then I found this pound, and there was this golden ball of light, and it talked to me, and I followed it and— ugh…" Konata poured out quickly all at once, stopping herself when she realized how ridiculous she sounded right then.

Turning back to her sister, Kagami raised an eyebrow, only to receive a shake of the head from her younger twin, and turning back to Konata, the twin-tailed girl let a nervous smile slip onto her lips.

"Konata, maybe you're just tired. We've had a long day after all. Why don't you come back to the camp and get some sleep, alright?" Kagami concernedly asked, placing a hand onto her friends shoulder to begin pushing her in the right direction.

"But Kagami, it was there! I wouldn't make that up! _Why_ would I make that up? I wouldn't! It talked to me! It said something about the Old One…or something, I don't know!" Konata yelled at her friend as she was pushed along, but at the sound of the Old One, their bespectacled companion let out a slight gasp.

Glancing back at the sound, Kagami squinted slightly. "Miyuki, don't tell me you believe this?" Kagami asked with a sigh, earning a shake from her pink-haired friend.

"Well…I don't know about any talking golden balls of light, but…what was that other thing you mentioned, Izumi-San?"

"Huh? The Old One?" Konata said once more, earning another slight gasp from her friend. This one causing Kagami to groan.

"Okay, what's so gasp-worthy? Why do you keep doing that?" Kagami moaned, Miyuki only reaching into her backpack and removing a large tome, and quickly flipping through its many golden brown pages, each one looking older and moldier than the last.

Finally finding what she was looking for, Miyuki ran over and placed the book in front of her friends face. Kagami didn't know what to think of what she saw at first. The picture was of a large…something. It was made up of snarled roots and tree branches, all of them leafless and dead. At its front, a large maw-like mouth, with jagged, broken branches forming some sort of teeth of different sizes and shapes. Within its mouth, a blinding light, something indistinguishable by physical appearance, but it seemed menacing nonetheless.

"This is…?" Kagami asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"The Old One." Miyuki began to explain. "A great demon, one of the most powerful ever. It was said that it could destroy entire nations with a thought, split mountains, drain oceans, and erupt volcanoes." Miyuki continued, her friends were mostly enthralled by the story, but Tsukasa was mostly just frightened. "Another demon, of even greater strength, with its last shred of humanity, sealed the Old One away forever, and gave up its demon form for a more human-like appearance. However, King Allant, ruler of Boletaria, harnessed the power of the souls of demons…and somehow, made all of this happen. Some say it even awoke the Old One, and it is actually the cause of all of this." Miyuki illustratively explained, putting her arms to the air and pointing to the dense and colorless fog that now swept across the land, ever present, ever looming.

"Indeed." A voice suddenly chimed in, causing all four girls to jump suddenly, shooting their glances in the direction of it.

The girls couldn't explain what they saw exactly. It was about the size of a small boulder, and floated several feet off the ground. It was bathed in light, and had no physical form to speak of, or none that could be seen. One might say it was even a…

"Ball of light?" Kagami noted, taking a step backwards as she noticed Konata taking one towards the orb.

"I told you guys! I told you! This is it! This is the ball of light that talked to me! Told you!" Konata sounded somewhat excited, even if she didn't intend for it to come out quite like that.

"The Old One has indeed been awakened. It sends its minions throughout the land in search of sustenance, of fresh souls. It requires them." The ball of light spoke in its many different voices, causing equal confusion among the band of girls.

"O-O-O-Onee-Chan! What is that thing!" Tsukasa worriedly sounded, grabbing onto her sister's arm and squeezing with all of her might.

"I…I have no idea. It's beautiful…" Kagami whispered, once again noticing her small companion walking ever closer to it. "Konata, don't!" Kagami worriedly yelled, her friend completely ignoring her protests.

"What are you? Why did you call out to me?" Konata asked quietly, the orb of light just sitting there, not answering her. It seemed to just observe the girls for a moment, take in their auras, their appearances, it soaked them in. Without a word, it slowly began to expand, growing ever larger.

Instinctively, Kagami rushed forward with her sword in hand, pushing Konata behind her and pointing the tip of the blade at the orb. "Stay back, demon!" Kagami roared, ready to do anything and everything to protect her friends should the mysterious light be a threat, although, it did not react in any way.

The orb offered no response, and just continued its strange transformation, eventually culminating in a door-like appearance.

"Please. Step into the light. All will be made clear." The light whispered, slowly beginning to glow ever brighter, its golden hue slowly melting into a sharp, blinding white.

Silence filled the air; nobody said a word, not the girls, and not the orb. Konata was the first one to even make a movement, and taking several steps forward, she suddenly felt a rough hand grip on her wrist.

"Konata! What the hell are you doing? Are you actually thinking about doing what the demon says? It's a _demon!_" Kagami almost yelled, but Konata didn't hear her. She seemed fixated on the door presented before her. She wanted to know why it approached her; she wanted to know why it felt so familiar, so gentle to her. She wanted to know why…

"I'm sorry." A hushed whisper escaped the bluenette, and without thinking, she wretched her hand from her dear friends, and ran head-long into the door of light.

"Konata!" Kagami screamed at the top of her lungs, and without thought, charged in after the brave yet stupid girl, her hand outstretched in a futile attempt to pull her back. Kagami couldn't do it though, she couldn't move. The light seemed to paralyze her, consume her; she couldn't do anything but surrender herself to its will, its unyielding, unending will.

Konata couldn't see her tsundere anymore; she couldn't see Tsukasa or Miyuki either. She heard one final scream from Kagami, and that was it. The screams and forms of her friends were blocked out. They were replaced with low pitch ringing sounds in her ears, the noises rumbling her to her very core, sending shivers down her spine, chattering her teeth. And all she could see was the light, that unending, blinding, consuming light. All around her, and even within her. Reaching her hand in front of her face, Konata watched as it too, was slowly devoured by the light, vanishing before her very eyes. She didn't seem to care though, the light was comforting. It felt like it needed her, and she needed it, and she had no protest of this. She didn't dwell on it long however, as suddenly, she felt tired, more exhausted than she could ever remember, and quietly, she succumbed to the deep sleep that was gently placed over her. Before she finally allowed herself to leave the realm of conscious thought she was currently in, she uttered one final word.

"Dad…"

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**Author's Note**: Well, after putting it off for a long time. I finally decided to give this whole deal a try. I made a single chapter for about five different stories before I finally came to a decision on this one. I'm a huge Demon's Souls fan, and a huge Lucky Star fan, and a huge yuri fan. Why not add these three wonderful things, I thought? And so, I did. I may decide to go back to the other stories once this one is finished, but for now, I'll concentrate on this little adventure. And for those who have played Demon's Souls, you know it's a very dark, disturbing tale. Well, some of those elements WILL be in intact in the story, but some won't. For instance, their certainly wasn't any romance elements in Demon's Souls, but in this, there is. Some other elements revolving around certain characters will be removed as well…for purposes yet to be seen. Well, goodbye for now, and 'til the next chapter. Which knowing my completely free schedule at the moment, will be out in no time.

'Til then, Hasta La Bye Bye!


	2. Why He Left

**Lucky Souls **

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**Chapter 2: Why He Left…**

**Several weeks earlier… **

"Dad!"

He heard it, but at the same time, he didn't. He had physically heard his daughter address him, but mentally, it was nothing but background noise, another tweet from the many birds present outside his window, the rustle of the great oak tree that loomed over their tiny shack of a house, the crackle of their fire pit, currently roasting a morning meal.

"Dad! Hello? Anybody home?"

Turning to his daughter, the tired looking man shook his head, awaking himself from his conscious dream and finally focusing in on her. She was dressed messily, like he, a shirt one size too many placed upon her fragile frame, and pants much baggier than needed. A bag tied to her back, filled with academy supplies no doubt, the young girl was on her way to the foundation of academics after all. Her hair, as deep blue as the ocean, tumbling down her back like a waterfall, it fit her perfectly, and only one word came to the man's mind, beautiful.

"Good morning, Konata!" The tired man greeted, although his daughter noticed, there wasn't even the slightest bit of sincerity in it, he probably didn't even realize where she was going. Staring at her father for a moment, Konata managed a sigh, forcing her stoic expression into a tight grin and placing her hands at rest behind her head.

"Well, I'm off to meet Kagami and Tsukasa. I'll see you later, alright?" Konata asked the man with grin, her teeth bearing as she did so. "Oh, and don't worry, I'll bring back that 'book' you wanted from the library, I know you've been waiting to get your hands on it!" Konata explained, waving a finger in the air and finally getting a rile out of the old man.

Standing up excitedly, the tired father forgot whatever it was he was thinking about that had made him so distant, and instead, gave his daughter a large hug, throwing her back and forth. "Oh, my dear sweet child! Always worrying about your father! When I'm old and grey, I know I can count on you to care of me!" He cheered, rubbing his daughter's hair like she was a dog, and pushing her out the door with a laugh. "Now get! And hurry back with the book! Love you lots! Bye!" He screeched with equal enthusiasm, his daughter finally letting off a real laugh for the first time that morning. She had made her father smile, and she could tell, it was a genuine, and while it might not cure whatever was currently ailing his mind, she knew it was a step in the right direction.

Watching his daughter leave in the distance, the weary man let out an even wearier sigh, rubbing the back of his head and returning into his home. He walked to the window in a trance, and began staring into it like a void. He saw his town, the place he called home. It was run down, poor looking to the noble eye. The small shack's of houses were old, crumbling, windows hanging by hinges, smashed, lawns wild and untamed, and the people who lived in them were just the same.

It was humble village, filled with humble people, living out their humble lives in peace. They didn't need riches, they didn't extravagant clothing, mansions for houses, expensive food, they didn't any of it. It was a village of people willing to do everything to just get by, and they would help one another along the way. It was the type of town, where your neighbors are not only your friends, or acquaintances, they were your family.

The golden rays of morning seeped onto the quaint little town, casting its light against the sides of buildings, through the leaves on trees, and on the faces of its people, and while it might seem shabby to some, to this old man, it was a beautiful sight.

"She'd probably like it." The old man sounded to no one in particular, rubbing his hand over his dusty, cracked kitchen window, and glancing outside at the great oak tree that had made a home in their lawn. He studied the product of nature, massive and untamed, it's roots shooting up from the ground and spreading across the lawn, it's bark, decayed and torn from it's body, and it's leaves, a dull shade of crispy brown.

The tree had once been beautiful, the man remembered, so many years ago. He continued to stare at it like it was a memory, a memory of something special, and before he knew it, he was a young man again, laying below the tree's majesty, resting his head gently against it, taking an afternoon nap.

He remembered he would often take naps there, away from the many eyes of the townspeople, away from the noise, the hustle and bustle. He could be at peace here, he could clear his mind. Only one thing ever made it better, the only thing he ever allowed into his peace, under his tree.

"Sojiro!" The voice would call out, and his eyes fluttering open gently, he would behold her. She was beautiful, her hair as deep blue as his daughters, cascading down her back and beyond. Her eyes were a deep emerald, and they shown beautifully, the light of the sun glinting off them, making them glow. Her petite form, ever so gently covered by a dress as white as snow. Her beauty could not be put into words; she made him feel so human, so lowly. When she was around it wasn't reality, it was a dream, a dream where only she and himself existed.

Blinking his eyes hard, Sojiro gently placed a wrinkled palm to his face, rubbing it tenderly with a chuckle. He knew he would never go back to the dream, he knew he couldn't, because every time he did, it would only remind him of how much he missed her.

Heaving a great sigh, Sojiro sat himself down at the table, tapping on its wooden surface with his fingers for just a moment, when suddenly he noticed something outside his dirty window. It was a woman he thought at first, he could tell by the slender frame, the delicate features, but that isn't what stuck him so deeply. The hair was wild and untamed, a deep shade of blue. He noticed she was crumpled to the ground, in a miserable and depressive state, and above her, several men, kicking at her.

Now, he wasn't a brave man, and he certainly wasn't one to meddle in others affairs, but something about this made him feel sick to his stomach, and he couldn't contain himself. He stood up post haste, marching through his small kitchen and pushing open the front door harshly, marching down his lawn with daggers in his eyes.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!" Sojiro yelled, throwing his arms into the air as he approached the hoodlums, the young men turning to him with smirks, one of them pointing down at the heap of the woman on the ground.

"We were just having a little talk with the lady here, gramps, why don't you get outta here? Real quick like, yeah?" One of the brutish thugs confidently stated, pushing his chest outwards with a grin, earning slight snickers from his friends.

Glancing between the three men, Sojiro surveyed them. They were poor, possibly more so than he, and they were probably roughing up the girl for money. Sojiro wasn't good at fighting with his body, but his mind was sharper than he let on, and reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small bag, and jingled it over his head.

"Look, take this; just leave her alone, alright?" The old man carefully noted, jingling it once more so the thugs knew what it was. The supposed 'leader' of the shady looking men only cracked his knuckles, taking a step towards the older man with fire in his eyes.

"And what's to stop me from doing to you what I did to her, old man? I could just take both of your money, y'know!" The thug cheered, him and his cohorts stepping over the woman on the ground and closing in on Sojiro.

Sojiro weighed his odds, they weren't good was all he could come up with, and taking a step back, he shut his eyes tightly, and prepared himself for a beating. However, any pain he expected never came, and opening his eyes, he saw the young men glancing in another direction, towards the town square.

"Ah! It's the knights, forget it boys! Another day, old man…" The thug brutishly claimed, running off into the darkness of a nearby alley with his gang, retreating post haste as the knights marched ever closer.

Sojiro was in no mood to tell the smug knights what had happened, they wouldn't care anyway, so he decided to make his own hasty retreat. Lifting the woman onto his back, he carefully made his way back inside of his home, to safety, and carrying her his bed, he gently set her down, surveying the damage.

She had a few scrapes and bruises he noted, but nothing serious, nothing that wouldn't heal in a day or two. She was a young woman, probably in her mid to late twenties, and she was extremely beautiful. It was right then that Sojiro had once again adopted his familiar demeanor, and not so gracefully, he pinched the girl's exposed and tender thigh, only to be met by a slap most fierce, causing him to stumble back in surprise.

"Hey you pervert! What do you think you're doing!" The girl barked, the hood gracefully placed over her head being shed with the quick movement. Sojiro could only gasp in surprise at what he saw. She was a spitting image of his love, but with some subtle differences. Her hair was a darker shade of blue, and it was tied into a braided ponytail. Her cheeks were round and rosy, and looked as soft and delicate as the rest of her, and upon her face, a beauty mark. Her eyes, however, Sojiro noticed, were different. The irises were a cloudy white, like fog on a window. The old man waved a hand in front of her face, but she did not react, she was blind, he saw this now.

"Uh…are you still there?" The girl asked quietly, reaching her hand outwards in an attempt to find the person that had saved her. Reaching over as far as she could manage, her hand eventually came to rest on something. It was wrinkly, she thought, and sort of rough. She ran her hand over it gently, squeezing everything she came across, until she finally clamped her fist down on something, it was a nose, she could tell.

"Ow!" Sojiro yelped, pulling his head back and grabbing at his face, staring at the girl with wonder in his eyes.

"Oh! Uh…sorry, heh. So, are you the one that saved me?" The girl asked turning her head in the direction she thought the man might be in, but Sojiro noted it was the wrong one.

"Uh, well, sort of." Sojiro chuckled lightly, sitting himself on the bedside next to the girl. "Are you alright? They didn't hurt you too bad I take it?" Sojiro asked concernedly, once again surveying the girls form to make sure he had not missed something. He couldn't help his mind from turning dirty again, and with a giggle to himself, he allowed a grin full of teeth, knowing full well she couldn't see it. "Maybe you should let me examine you for further injury! Maybe take a bath, wash those troubles away!" Sojiro cheered, rubbing his hands together mischievously, only to be met once more with a slap.

"Are you blind or not!" Sojiro moaned, considering himself unlucky that the girl had managed to strike him dead on twice in a row, which was quite the accomplishment for one without sight.

The girl was quiet for a moment, a finger to her chin, she looked like she was thinking about it, Sojiro noted. Why would she think about whether she was blind or not? Something was off, this girl was odd, that was the only word the old man could use to describe her, and it wasn't just because she reminded him of someone quite dear.

"I guess I am." The girl nonchalantly said with a shrug, earning a slap to the forehead from the man she was conversing with.

Standing up from the bed, Sojiro rubbed his eyes just to make sure she was real, and that he wasn't just getting senile in his old age, and to his surprise, she remained there. He let a smile slip onto his face, and like before, it was a genuine one, he was happy, really and truly happy, but he couldn't explain why.

"So, hey, let me go get you some water or something, alright?" Sojiro tried to say as casually as possible, even though he was quickly becoming nervous around the girl. Turning to leave, the old man decided one more glance couldn't hurt, and glancing at her, the dirty thoughts from his mind were suddenly wiped away, replaced with a single word that stuck in his mind as the suns rays casted upon this strange girl.

"Beautiful…"

* * *

Under the guise of darkness still present from the ever rising sun, one can commit many acts that would otherwise be impossible without its protection. This is what Kagami was told by her friend, Konata, in an attempt to reassure her that everything would be alright, and they would go in, get out, without anyone noticing.

The way to the academy was supposed to be normal one, as per every day routine, but this morning promised to be anything but normal. The eccentric bluenette came to the twins that morning with the promise of adventure, intrigue and danger, and that it could be all theirs, if they were to skip their academics for the day, and join her on her little quest.

While the older twin had flat out refused at first, she found that with ample begging from her short companion, she couldn't deny her, but she forbade her sister from missing school, and sent her on her way. She decided to trust her friend, that their adventure would be one worth missing one day of academy for.

"What the hell was I thinking?" Kagami groaned to herself, mumbling under her breath as she now found that she was crawling on all fours across the muddy ground like some sort of animal. She glanced ahead at her companion, who was doing the same, as they quietly and not-so stealthily made their way out of the town gate, past the ever present guards stationed by it.

"So, where exactly are you leading me anyway? Don't tell me we skipped school to roll around in the dirt!" Kagami hushed as much as she could, even though tinges of anger were still quite evident in her voice.

"Now, now Kagamin, that would be telling! Besides, getting there is half the adventure!" Konata cheered, jumping up from her crawling position in one swift motion and tossing her hands into the air like a small child who had gotten a new toy.

Jumping up quickly as well, Kagami pressed her hands over the bluenette's mouth, pushing her against the cold stone wall they were currently crawling beside, her eyes shifting around to make sure nobody had heard the girl. Letting off a sigh, Kagami suddenly felt something. Something warm and wet sliding over her closed palms, and tearing her hands from the girls face, Konata's pink muscle was poking and prodding from her lips.

"Konata! That's gross! There was mud on there!" Kagami yelled, now completely forgetting that they needed to be quiet herself, grinding her hand across her shirt in a futile attempt to remove all of the sticky ooze now present on it.

Allowing herself a giggle, Konata leaned up against the stone wall with a grin and a raise of an eyebrow. "So, you're only concerned about that? If it was clean, you'd want me to lick you?" Konata asked suggestively, only to be met with a fist planted hard on the tip of her head, causing her to stumble to the ground in pain.

"Shut up. And Konata, seriously, we're breaking the law here! One, we're skipping school! _Me!_ I can't believe this! And two, this is _illegal! _You know we're not supposed to go outside of town without an escort!" Kagami hushed once more, her eyes continually switching back and forth to make sure nobody saw them. If they did, they'd be in deep for sure. Kagami recalled the last time her friend had convinced her to do something such as this, and it ended poorly. Glancing back to her friend, Kagami noticed she was missing, and had just continued walking ahead despite her protests.

"Ugh…" Kagami groaned out, not following her friend not because she wanted to, but because if she didn't, the bluenette would likely get into even more mischief than if she wasn't present.

Stealthily making their way towards a small graveyard just outside of town, Kagami soaked in her surroundings. They were familiar, but also new. She had noticed the area present outside of town many times before, but she had never actually _looked_ at it before. It was somewhat peaceful, the small stone hedges sticking from the ground were cracked, and covered in moss, decayed with age, but it was a beautiful age, Kagami had noted.

The area was filled with flowers, some wild and nature-produced, and others placed by family members of the deceased. There was nothing else of note, except the single oak tree that shaded the graveyard at its center, blanketing the small area in its shade.

Walking through the area, the two girls finally came to a stop at a tomb directly at the foot of the great tree, with Kagami raising an eyebrow at what exactly she was supposed to see that apparently Konata saw just fine, because as the tsundere held a grumbling expression, her friend held one of pure joy.

Konata placed her hands triumphantly on her sides, presenting the small stone mural to her friend with a grin. Surveying it, Kagami saw that it was somewhat like a tombstone in the ground, but with a door handle on it, likely leading down to a family tomb containing many different bodies from different generations, all likely equally rotting and smelly; Kagami couldn't even contain herself at how unexcited she was.

"This, my dear Kagamin, is the _shrine of the damned!_" Konata cackled, her voice practically dripping with as much false-terror as possible, hunching her back and clawing her hands to complete the effect. "They say many years ago, a young girl went down inside, in search of her lost puppy dog who had ran into this very cemetery! But…she was _never heard from again!_" Konata oozed once more, throwing her hands into the air and laughing manically.

Staring at her friend in disbelief, Kagami could only shake her head and turn to leave. "I don't believe you convinced me to skip school for _this._" Kagami mumbled to herself. "I lost my perfect track record, so you could drag me along on some ghost hunt. Just fantastic!" Kagami moaned once more, rubbing her temple in despair at her friend's stupidity.

Grabbing her before she could leave, Konata dropped to her knees, and what little dignity she had, she shed right then. "_Please_, Kagami? _Please?" _Konata practically begged, shaking her friends arm as viciously as she could.

Seeing her friend in such a state, Kagami could do nothing but blush; she looked like a cute little child, begging her parent for a sweet, or a new toy. Finally cracking under the pressure, Kagami tore her arm from the bluenette, placing it on her hip with a growl. "Alright, alright! Just…make it fast." Kagami grinned; she couldn't help herself when it came to her overbearing friend. She would go to lengths that many others would considering foolish for her, she would do practically anything, be it inside or outside of the law, wrong or right, moral or immoral, as long as it put a smile on Konata's face.

"Huzzah!" Konata cheered, releasing her friends arm and jumping into the air, ending by crashing into Kagami's chest, snuggling her cheek against the girl's bosom with little to no embarrassment. "Thanks, Kagamin!" Konata cheered once more, shaking Kagami back and forth with her fierce hug.

"I-I…uh…w-w-well…j-just open it already!" Kagami growled, pushing the girl off roughly, only earning a laugh from her friend. She knew Kagami didn't mean any of the mean stuff she did or said, she was really a sweet girl, and while sometimes Konata would take advantage of the kindness her friend so readily showed towards her, she did it knowing full well she'd pay Kagami back somehow.

Turning her attention to the tombstone, Konata bent down to it, running her hand over the cool object, feelings her fingers get slightly slicked with morning dew. Reaching for the handle, Konata tugged slightly, at first it didn't budge, but with several more tries of force, it conceived, suddenly flying open and causing the girl to stumble backwards and crash onto her bottom.

"Got it!" Konata giggled, standing up and brushing herself off, glancing down into the darkness present in the tomb. The only thing she could clearly see were the stairs leading further downward, beyond that, nothing, complete and utter darkness. Examining it for a moment, Konata carefully placed a foot on the first step, just to make sure it was safe, and glancing back at her tsundere, Konata hatched an idea.

"_Agh! The ghost! It's got me_!" Konata yelped, mock-falling to the ground and pretending to be sucked down the staircase, throwing her hands into the air and flailing them every which way.

"Konata!" Kagami screeched, reaching down to grab onto her friend but noticing that there was no tug from the opposite side, and that she was the only one pulling, not to mention, the bluenette was laughing shamelessly. "I…I can't believe you! Grow up!" Kagami angrily spouted, dropping her friend onto the cold ground and crossing her arms impatiently.

Finally recovering from her giggle fit, Konata stood up and wiped the dampness of hard laughter from her eyes, turning around towards the tomb and throwing a hand into the air triumphantly. "Okay, okay, serious time! Onward!" She cheered, marching downwards into the darkness, followed quickly her tsundere, who was caught off guard by how readily she descended into the unknown.

"W-Wait for me!" Kagami called out, running down into the darkness after her friend, fearing for the brash girl's safety.

Finally reaching the bottom of the staircase, the two girls glanced around; the room wasn't pitched black like they thought it might be. What was presented before them was a hallway, dimly lit with torches, their blood red flames crackling quietly in the darkness. Konata glanced at them, and wondered who kept them lit, she never noticed or not if there was a grave keeper, so she couldn't know who was mending and tending to the area.

"Creepy." Konata casually noted, beginning to walk down the dank hallway, water droplets from the surface finding their way through the cracks of the ceiling, dripping onto the ground with light plops.

"You're telling me." Kagami noted just as casually, but there was more caution to her voice than the bluenette's.

Reaching the end of the hallway, the girls came to a rounded room, with a single door at the end of it. Looking around the circular area, Konata found it was dimly lit with torches like the first, but the entire area, walls, floor and ceiling, were covered in a shiny, glossy material.

Running up to the only door with a laugh, Konata surveyed it, dusty and old looking, like everything else present in the tomb. "So, what's behind door number one?" Konata joked, poking at the entrance with her thumb.

"I'd like to say I don't really wanna know…but I have to admit, you've got me interested, open it." Kagami grinned; she was actually having fun, as ashamed as she was to admit it. She loved this sort of stuff, ghost stories, legends, the creepy and deranged, she had a certain soft spot for things such as this, and it was made all the better when she experienced it with Konata.

"Right." Konata said as she turned back towards the door, and slowly, so painfully slowly, she reached out to the handle, now deciding to put on the finishing touches with a gulp, she wanted to make this as over dramatic as possible, and when she heard a groan from her friend, she knew she had done it justice.

Pushing the door open, Konata poked her head inside, followed by Kagami's head above hers, the two girls peaking into the darkness placed before them. Letting out a nervous laugh, Konata glanced upwards at her friend, her face twisted into a nervous smile.

"Brains before beauty." Konata said with a chuckle, earning another light groan from her friend, who although at first wasn't afraid, found she her neck now slicked in cold sweat.

"Alright, alright, just move." Kagami grumbled, pushing past her tiny companion and taking the first step into the room, which she now noticed was a lot darker than she had first anticipated. The only light in the room was that illuminated by the crack of the door, and taking several steps into the darkness, Kagami turned back to make sure her friend was still there, she was, and the tsundere noticed she was a lot closer than she was before.

"Yeesh, makes ya feel like a ghost really _could _live here, huh? Ready to attack anyone who enters her cursed home…" Konata shakily said, a light giggle present after her statement. Kagami wasn't one to believe in ghosts and ghouls, but there certainly could be a wild animal that made its home down here, a wolf maybe, ready to attack any intruders who entered its home.

Glancing behind her, Kagami felt her cheeks flare slightly as her friend continued to move closer to her, the proximity between them being mere centimeters, probably less Kagami thought. "I-If anything like that h-happened…" Kagami stuttered slightly, losing her composure around her dear friend in a mere instant, her tough exterior melting away and revealing a much more gentle side. "I'd protect you." Kagami confidently said, not actively sweating in fear, but out of nervousness as she made the comment.

"Aw, my brave knight!" The bluenette cooed, finally ending the distance between them hanging onto her friends arm affectionately, only to be pushed off roughly in response.

"I'm not your knight!" Kagami moaned as they continued further into the darkness, finally the last of the light from the open doorway was gone, and they were standing in the pit of the blackness, their shadows illuminating and becoming more obscure as they furthered their distance from the door. "I take it back, I'd just let the monsters eat you." She said with a chuckle of her own, earning a groan from her friend.

"But Kagamin!" Was all the girl could manage before she was cut off, suddenly and sharply, by a booming, low-pitched moan from somewhere in the darkness that was ever present all around them, that seemed to be closing in on them.

"Ahh!" A yelp of surprise from the lilac-haired girl, she practically jumped a foot in the air, and her arms were instantly wrapped around her shorter companion without a second thought, and thinking about it, Kagami figured she probably wasn't displaying her status as Konata's brave knight very well.

Glancing into the blackness, the girls waited for a moment, all was silent, dead silent. They waited for something, anything, to make itself known, to reassure them that it was just their heads playing tricks on them, that it was just a kick of a stone, or the plop of a water droplet.

However, the moan sounded once more, just as unnerving and frightening as before, but this time, something came along with it. A red dot, glowing in the darkness, a single floating dot, hovering about six feet off the ground, floating gently back and forth, drawing ever near.

"U-Uh, K-Konata! What is that thing!" Kagami nearly screamed as she pulled Konata backwards with her, the two stumbling over one another's feet in fear.

"The ghost! It's gotta be the ghost!" Konata said equally frightened, but she also couldn't hide the slightest tinge of excitement in her voice. The 'ghost' as she called it moaned once more, and its shivering voice sent chills down the girls' spines, placing them in a paralyzing fear, one they couldn't break before it was too late.

A wretched, snarled hand suddenly appeared from the darkness, brown and decayed, a strip of flesh hanging from a bone, and that was all the girls needed to see before they turned tail towards the door.

"Run! Run! Run!" Kagami suddenly screeched as loud as she could, her voice splitting her own ear drums at the sheer volume of it, and grabbing onto her friends hand roughly, she yanked her towards the door, running as fast as she could, trying to put as much distance between herself and the thing in the darkness as much as possible.

Making their way back to the staircase, the girls stopped for a moment, glancing down the darkened halls to see if it was still on their trail, and much to their dismay, and not surprisingly to both girls, it was, the dark decrepit shadow of a monster was slowly shuffling it's way through the hall, it's form faintly illuminated by the dim glow of the roaring torches.

Pulling onto the bluenette's hand once more, Kagami pulled the two of them up the stairs, running as fast as they could, pushing their thumpers to the absolute limit as they emerged from the tomb, running out into the safety of daylight, surely it wouldn't follow them any further, that's how it worked in the stories, Kagami had remembered, that the monsters could never follow you into the light, it was their weakness, their mortal enemy.

Stopping for a moment, the girls could do nothing but scream once more, as the monster finally crawled out of the tomb, and into the daylight, it's full form finally being revealed to them.

It could have passed for man, in a time not so long ago, but what stood before them, was no man. It was skinny, almost like a skeleton, but a thin layer of flesh still clung to its protruding bones, and its skin was torn and ripped, revealing the muscle and sinew placed within its body. Its hands were shaped into claws, almost like the talons of a bird, and its face covered by a mask, carved into a square, and tied to the back of its head by a loose rope. Out of the single eyehole present on the mask, a blood red eye soaked through, pupil-less and shining like a ruby.

"W-What the hell is this thing?" Kagami whispered to her friend, only receiving a shake of the head in response and a slight gulp, although unlike before, this gulp was genuine.

"No idea. Doesn't look human..." Konata noted rather obviously, earning a nervous and slightly hysterical chuckle from her tsundere.

"You think! Let's get out of here!" Kagami yelled, once again grabbing onto her friends hand and attempting to run, but this time, the demon would have none of it.

A loud screech suddenly poured from the demon's very being, it sent shock waves along the ground, and tore the flowers from the dirt, knocked over headstones and sent the two girls flying, only to come crashing down hard onto the ground on top of one another, grumbling in pain.

"Ugh…what the…?" Konata mumbled to herself, her slightly blurry vision suddenly focusing in on the demon, which was now a lot closer than she had recalled. "Move!" Konata yelled, rolling off of her tsundere and pulling the girl to her feet, the demon now wildly waving its arms in the air in a fit of otherworldly insanity, its razor-sharp claws bared and ready to strike at any moment.

The demon swung its claws at the girls, missing by a splint of a hair, and causing it to stumble to the ground and crash to the dirt most ungracefully, befitting a monster such as it.

"Oh god!" Kagami muttered shakily, attempting to run with her friend but finding that her ankle suddenly surged out in pain, sending spurts of it throughout her body and causing her to collapse to the ground, Konata being brought down with her, as she was the one who was pulling her along.

Turning back towards her friend, Konata noticed what was wrong, her friend's ankle had a large gash present on it, a small trail of blood slowly trickling its way downward towards her heel, and the bluenette felt powerless, would this demon kill them here? Surely it seemed that way, but she couldn't just give up, she couldn't just let the person more dear to her than anything get killed by some monster, she wouldn't allow it.

Reaching under Kagami's thighs, she placed one hand under them, and the other on the lilac-haired girls back, and summoning the strength of two, the miniscule girl heaved upwards, bringing her tsundere with her, cradled in her arms. She had no idea where this sudden bought of strength stemmed from, but she didn't have long to dwell on it, as the demon slowly stood up once more, ready for a second strike.

Taking several steps, Konata knee's buckled, she just wasn't physically strong enough for this feet, it took all of her might just to lift her friend off the ground, but she couldn't manage walking, and with her arm muscles tearing one by one, she felt them give way, and her friend collapse into the dirt below her, followed by herself, exhausted from even attempting the feat.

Her head switching in an instant, Konata saw the demon draw closer, shuffle towards them at a snail's pace, she thought it might be mocking them, like it was delaying the chase on purpose out of some disgusting pleasure it derived from watching its prey squirm. Konata stared into its single ever present eye, and saw her own reflection present in it as the demon now stood over them, ready to finish what it had started. Konata was sure she would watch herself and Kagami die mirrored in its eye, but no such thing came.

Instead, a whistle through the air, and a light gust past her shoulders, blowing her hair upwards slightly, and causing her eyes to widen in disbelief. An arrow now made its home present in the demon's torso, penetrated into its abdomen, several lines of black, oozing juices squirting from the wound. The arrow was followed by another, this one, directly through the demons head, piercing through the skull, and sending it tumbling backwards, falling to the dust with a thud.

Glancing at one another for a moment, the two girls turned to see their saviors, and to their disbelief, it was a small band of knights, the knights that so readily and ever vigilantly protected their humble town from any and all dangers. At their front, their captain, a bow in her hand, freshly drawn and released.

The girl had short, turquoise hair, a light red in her cheeks, and glasses bridged across her face. She was clad in full armor, the bulkiness of the suit fitted around her petite form, covering it completely. A triumphant grin on her face, slightly cocky looking, but well deserved. Slowly wobbling to her feet, the bluenette let a smile rip onto her face, and before she knew it she had busted out in laughter, and running towards the captain of the knights, she wrapped her arms around the girl fiercely, rubbing her cheek against the cold surface of the suit.

"Yui!" Konata cheered, continuing her display of affection and embarrassing the head guard in front of her peers, but she didn't mind, her kin was safe, and that was all that mattered to the brave knight. Releasing herself from the binding hug, Yui leaned down slightly, placing a finger on her cousin's chin gently.

"Are you two alright?" Yui asked kindly, which both girls noted was odd, considering the circumstances; they expected a little yelling, maybe an insult at their stupidity for even attempting something such as this, but only concern shown in the captain's eyes.

Standing up as well, Kagami suddenly tumbled to the ground once more, cursing that she had forgotten about her foot so quickly, and tenderly rubbing a hand over it to alleviate some of the pain. Turning back at the slight whimpers, Konata knelt down next to her friend, examining the wound present, the cut was deep, and would require medical attention, but it was nothing serious.

"Yeah, I am. But, Kagami…" Konata noted, and with that, Yui instantly raised a hand to the air, and with the motion, several knights swiftly moved past their captain, scooping the injured girl up into their arms gently, cradling her like an infant.

Approaching his captain, one of the knights leaned in closely to her ear, making sure the bluenette was out of reach. "Ma'am, this one was injured by the Dregling; we need to make sure she isn't tainted." He whispered, glumly eyeing the girl in his arms, who was slowly growing ever more exhausted. Kagami couldn't explain it, but her head stung, it felt like somebody was hammering nails into it, then yanking them out. She sleepily glanced over at her friend, who she noticed was unharmed, which was better than she could say for herself.

"Konata, you okay?" She whispered, only receiving a happy nod from her friend, who quickly ran over and seized the cradled girls hand in her own.

"Fine, you?" She asked hopefully, but earned no response, as she watched her friend slip into a deep sleep, she felt her heart stop on queue. "Kagami!" She shouted, shaking her friend for a moment before being stopped post haste by the knight who was holding the girl.

"Be calm, young one. Your friend is just exhausted." The knight reassured, although he had his doubts. Those who were attacked by Dreglings rarely survived, and those who did, were usually tainted by said attack, and would become a Dregling themselves before long.

Resigning her fits of worry, the bluenette nodded complacently, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly at her inappropriate display of emotion in front of the brave knights that defended her. Turning her attention back to her cousin, Konata grabbed onto her hand as the captain directed her knights, leading them back to the village.

There was a silence that hung in the air, Konata knew she and Kagami would receive punishment for what they had done, and she felt awful about it. She had dragged her friend out here; she had put in her danger, for her own selfish little adventure. Konata wasn't one to usually feel guilty for her crazy antics, or even regret them in the slightest, but now, she could feel nothing but guilt and regret weighing down on her tiny shoulders.

"What you did was foolish." Yui suddenly sounded, breaking the young girl from her trance, but she could not retort, she had nothing to say back. What she did _was_ foolish, and it could have ended in not only her life, but Kagami's. Another light silence filled the air, and Konata felt the hand she held grow tighter around her own, and a cold, armor-clad thumb gently rub over it. "But I'm glad you're okay." Yui whispered, turning to her young cousin with a tender smile, which the blunette returned in kind.

The rest of the walk back to the village was silent, except a few comments from one of the knights to Konata, telling her that her friend would be brought to the local infirmary and treated post haste, which the girl could only feel relieved at, and reluctantly, she allowed her friend to be taken away from her, she knew she needed her rest, especially after what had happened.

Guided back to her house by her cousin, the two entered the house quietly, with the captain ready to explain to her cousin's father just what mischief his daughter had gotten herself into, and what punishment should be dished out in return. At first Yui thought of not even telling the old man, he had enough to worry about without knowing his daughter had almost been killed, but he needed to know so it wouldn't happen again.

Knocking her armor-clad fist onto the man's bedroom door, a head suddenly poked out, and a wry smile present on the man's face. "Yui! And dear! You're home!" The old man nearly shouted, he sounded happy, Konata noted, or at least, a lot happier than he had sounded earlier that day.

Stepping out of his room, Sojiro closed the door behind him, a smile present on his face as he looked back and forth between the two girls, but noticing neither of them held a smile themselves. "Uh, is everything alright?" Sojiro asked quietly, only earning a sigh from the weary captain.

"Maybe we should talk over here." Yui resolved, moving the conversation into a wider space so she could better express just what a serious matter this was, and that his daughter should be punished with something befitting the matter.

Explaining the situation, Sojiro listened oddly seriously, nodding his head at every warning the knight made, and everything that should be done to prevent another situation such as this arise. After the discussion, Sojiro had a serious expression on his face as he turned to his daughter, he looked ready to yell, ready to go all out on her, and she braced for it. However, before he even opened his mouth, Konata noticed a slight smile on his face, and a wink of his eye, and she smiled at it.

"Young lady, I'm very disappointed, very much so! How could you do this to your poor old father? I don't think my heart can take it!" Sojiro complained, gushing his performance as much as he could in front of the knight, he wanted to make it look genuine, and his schpeal continued for several minutes, the mock-yelling and reprimanding seeming to put the captain of the knights at ease. Konata even added to the performance herself, pushing her lip out and giving it a little quiver or two, and pair of big old puppy dog eyes.

"Good. See that she is properly punished. Good night to you both!" Yui ended rather bubbly, her serious demeanor melting away in an instant as she left the house.

Turning to one another, father and daughter shared a smile, and began snickering to themselves and nudging one another, they had done well. Sojiro couldn't get angry at his daughter, not for anything. He might be disappointed, or saddened, but he couldn't be actively mad at her, he wouldn't allow himself to do this, not for anything. Reaching his hand downwards and placing it on his daughter's shoulder, he suddenly became serious, his warm smile melting into a frown.

"Are you sure you're alright, honey?" Sojiro concernedly questioned earning a happy nod from his daughter, to which he resigned his sadness and stood up with a smile.

"Good! Because I'm busy, very busy! We have a guest tonight, dear!" The old man cheered, throwing his arms into the air with a hoot, showing just how excited his was both inside and out.

Raising a brow, Konata watched as her father ran back and forth, his personality constantly switching between worry and excitement, laughing and weeping, he was making bipolar people look tame. "Guest?" Konata asked with her brow still raised, to which her father only laughed triumphantly once more.

"Yes! A guest! And a beautiful woman at that!" Sojiro announced, taking his daughters hand in his own and leading her to the bedroom where the woman he had 'rescued' currently rested, practically bashing the door down in his child-like excitement. Marching towards the bed side, Sojiro released his daughter, throwing his hands open wide and presenting the woman as though she were a recently won trophy.

"This my dear, is she!" Sojiro exclaimed, and at the announcement, the blinded girl turned her head suddenly, a smile present on her face as she faced the two.

"Oh, hello Sojiro. Do we have a guest?" The blinded girl asked, earning a hearty laugh of a response from the old man.

"Indeed we do, my dear! My sweet, loving daughter!" Sojiro proudly proclaimed, grabbing onto the blind girls hand and his daughters and forcing the two into a handshake with one another. "Go on! Meet! Greet!" He insisted, noticing the wariness the two girls seemed to hold at that moment.

"Nice to meet you." Konata said cheerily, but the girl offered no response, she simply glanced in the direction of the girl. Konata thought that her eyes were looking right through her, tearing through her completely, the maidens gaze felt heavy, like it carried some weight, like it placed something over her.

"Hm. Did you enjoy my pet?" The girl whispered silently, enough only for the daughter to hear, the father remained oblivious to the strange girl's words.

"W-What?" Konata said instantly, her eyes shooting open as widely as human possible. What was the girl talking about? Pet? There's no way she could've meant…

Tearing her eyes away from the blinded girl, Konata took a step back nervously. Something about this strange girl made her stomach churn, her head felt numb and thumped like a drum suddenly, but the pain was alleviated as fast as it had come, and shaking her head gently, the bluenette mumbled confusedly to herself.

Glancing between the two girls, the old father broke the silence with a laugh, placing his hands gently over his daughter's shoulders and pushing her out of the room. "Please forgive my daughter, she's had an exciting day you see, and is pretty tired. _Right, dear?_" Sojiro said with a wink, and Konata caught on, heaving a sigh and letting a smile drift into her face.

"Yeah dad, exhausted!" She proclaimed, even topping it off with a slight yawn and rub of her eyes. Knowing her father wanted privacy, Konata made her way out of the room, taking one last glance at the mysterious girl, who was still staring directly at her, through her, with those dead, foggy eyes.

They never left her sight, like a haunted painting on the wall, and they drilled the bluenette to her core. She almost wanted to ask the girl just what her problem was, why she was staring like she had two heads or something, but she decided to leave her father and the strange woman alone. One last thought entered her mind as she closed the door, that she could sworn she had seen the woman somewhere before. She was familiar somehow, but she couldn't recall how or why, and shrugging it off, the girl resigned herself of such thoughts, and decided she had earned a well deserved sleep.

She couldn't seem shake the thought however, it was imprinted in her mind, the blind girl's eyes, staring at her, always staring, silently and coldly.

* * *

Konata awoke early the next morning, more awake than usual. She didn't get much sleep, and her joints and bones ached still from the previous day. The blinding sun of the morning mercilessly assaulted the girls' tender eyes, and shadowing her face, she obscured the fiery orb from her vision, standing up with a stretch and a yawn, ready to begin the day anew.

Walking out of her room, the girl made her way down the hall, and to the kitchen, expecting her father to be there preparing some morning meal, or chatting with their 'guest', but he was nowhere to be seen. Checking several rooms, Konata raised a brow, where would her father be at such an hour? The sun had barely risen, and nothing would be open currently, not to mention, it was odd her father would even be up and about outside of the house, he was pretty indoors person.

At last, she came upon her father's room, opening the door gently, and peering inside, her feet creaking on the slightly old floorboards. "Dad?" She whispered, but there was no response, and allowing herself entry, she took several steps inside.

Her father was nowhere to be seen, not to mention their 'guest' was missing as well, and the beds were freshly made, as if nobody had slept in them in some time. Glancing around the room Konata noticed something off about it, it was caked in dust. Not only did it appear someone had not slept in this room for a night or two, it looked like the room hadn't been used in years.

Walking to the window, the bluenette glanced outside looking around the house to see if her father was in the yard, or the neighbors, and as far as she could tell, he was not.

"Dad!" Konata yelled out once more, her voice echoing in the empty house, the silence being so absolute that it rang in her ears splendidly. Where was he, she thought, he wasn't the type to just up and leave without a note, or at least _saying _something to his daughter. He was a forgetful and somewhat naïve man in his old age, but he wasn't the type of gallivant around with strange women and disappear from the house, something was off.

"Dad! Hello?" The girl called once more, and nothing. She heard only herself, and while she knew it was probably nothing, and that he would be back before she knew it, she couldn't shirk the inkling feeling in her chest, the feeling that had stapled itself into her mind ever since she had gazed into the dead, foggy eyes of that woman.

She sat in silence for a moment, and rubbing her chin gently, she shrugged it off, her dad was fine, wherever he was, he'd probably be back by dinner time at the latest. Right?

* * *

**Author's Note: **Oh boy, chapter 2 was really hard for me, probably because I hadn't intended for any flashbacks so early in the story, especially after the cliffhanger at the end of chapter 1. Now, first thing that came to your mind, the chapter is supposed to be about why Sojiro left in the first place, but it doesn't really say, does it? Well, I'll explain eventually don't worry. You might feel these events seemed somewhat unimportant to the events currently taking place in the story, but trust me, they are relevant in their own ways. Consecutive chapters will be _much_ easier to write, because now that the elements of foreshadow are set, they can conspicuously pop up again in the story at later times, and I can worry about just moving on with the tale.


	3. To Die Is Natural, To Live Is Unusual

**Lucky Souls**

**Author's Prelude: Eh, slight confusion in the last chapter. The flashback is over, should've just named Chapter 2 the flashback chapter. Pretty much no flashbacks ever again if I can help it. **

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* * *

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**Chapter 3: To Die Is Natural, To Live Is Unusual **

Wet, everything felt wet suddenly. That flighty feeling one experiences when submerged in water suddenly took her over, although, she could tell she was on land, that or the shallowest pool of water ever conceived. Her mind ached, her body ached, and it felt like she had been chewed, eaten, and spit back up. And she couldn't shake that feeling, that warm feeling in her heart, that nostalgic, loving feeling.

Opening an eye to the world, the girl sat up slowly, her muscles barely heeding her commands as she summoned all of her strength just to sit up, at least to find out where she was, what had happened, for she could scarcely remember.

She slowly stumbled to her feet, feeling each bone pop and crack back into place as she did so, and staring to the ground, the girl noticed she had been laying in a small pool of water, this was that soggy feeling, she figured.

She pressed her mind to recover any information about what had happened, anything, but she couldn't remember, all she could recall was light all around, golden light seeping through her very being, devouring her whole, that's all she could see, and hear.

Her vision was foggy, and her ears still rung, but she managed to take several wobbly steps, one hand placed against a nearby wall for support, she made her way out of the small sewer-like tunnel she was in, and into the daylight, or as much as it could be called daylight, overcast by dark, looming clouds, threatening to strike with rain and storms at any moment.

She surveyed the area; it was a small fortress, near and far as she could tell. In the distance she saw several towers and advantage points connecting to the area, likely defensive positions should a siege ever occur, but if one did, she knew no army could defend a small place like this.

Turning her head slightly, she felt warmness, but it was different from the one the golden light had offered her, it was steamy, burning almost. She noticed a fire, and around the fire, three equally soggy, dreary looking girls. It was right then, the girl snapped out of her trance, she became fully aware of her surroundings, and her friends, who could do nothing but stare at her as she made her way over to them, plopping onto the ground next to the fire they made.

"Hey." The girl quietly noted, a tender smile present on her face, but no such expressions on her friends.

"Konata." Her friend Kagami quietly noted, not even trying to hide the anger that was no doubt eating her alive at the moment.

Rubbing the back of her neck stiffly, Konata peered back and forth between her three companions. She couldn't remember what happened, the last thing she remembered was talking to that ball of light, the one that still felt like it had a presence over her, like it was still a part of her. Konata could tell she messed up; her friends weren't in any mood to talk to her, what had she done? She couldn't even recall, but she didn't need to, as her tsundere would be happy to remind her.

"So, Konata. What exactly happened back there?" Kagami said in a dull whisper, her eyes turning to her friend in a scowl, looking like she was ready to beat the bluenette into the dirt at any moment.

When she attempted to speak, Konata found she couldn't. Her voice locked itself into the back of her throat, and she had no real response to give, she didn't even know. She had put them all in danger, and she didn't even know why, and that's what tortured her the most, what made her just want to turn tail and go home, save her friends before she got them into any more danger.

"I don't know." Konata said almost inaudibly, she felt terrible, she knew this was her fault, she knew everything that they would ever get into in these lands would be her fault, because they wouldn't even be here if it weren't for her, they'd be back at home living out their lives normally, and peacefully.

"You don't know?" Kagami grumbled, standing up slowly and pacing back and forth, doing everything possible to try and control her anger, anything so she wouldn't just beat her friend half to death. She couldn't manage it, she needed to let off some steam, she had to, and bottling it all up wasn't an option. "I'll bet you don't. No…no, you don't know anything, do you?" Kagami angrily said as she took a step closer to her friend, to which the bluenette barely reacted to, her eyes still fixated on the makeshift campfire in front of them.

"O-onee-chan, it isn't Kona-Chan's fault…" Tsukasa worriedly said, hoping to try and stop her twin before she exploded her anger onto the poor girl.

"What are you saying Tsukasa? It _is _her fault! _Everything _is her fault! When something bad happens, it's _always_ because of something she did!" Kagami roared, her voice growing deeper as she wretched every bit of swelled up anger she held at the moment.

Continuing her pacing, Kagami angrily kicked a rock on the ground, the small stone flying into a nearby wall with a clack. She couldn't believe this, she didn't even believe she was here, that once again, that unbelievable, unreliable, unmanageable little demon she called a friend, had done it again, had put them into a situation they couldn't just weasel themselves out of.

"You don't even have a plan, do you? You don't even know if he's really here, do you! Admit it!" Kagami screamed as loud as she could, bending down and grasping the bluenette's collar in her first, shaking the girl wildly. "You put us all in danger with your stupidity, Konata!" She screeched once more with a violent shake, releasing her friends' collar roughly and throwing her hands into the air in disbelief.

"Kagami-San, I don't think you're being very fair. Why don't we let Izumi-San explain her side of it?" Miyuki suggested, only earning a gruff laugh from the twin-tailed girl, and several mumbles of curses under her lips as she sat down next to the fire, turning her full attention towards Konata.

"Alright, we'll do that. So, tell us Konata, what the _hell_ were you thinking?" Kagami tried to say as humanly nice as possible, her grin coming off as slightly more deranged than sincere, however.

Staring at her friends quietly, Konata could do nothing but sigh. She couldn't come up with another answer like, I don't know, or I guess we'll see, she had to tell them everything. She couldn't keep things from her friends anymore, not if they were going to get this thing done, not if they were going to save him.

"When the ball of light spoke to me, it felt familiar." Konata began, her eyes drifting away from her friends and settling on the fire in front of her. "It felt…nostalgic almost, like I had felt the aura it gave off somewhere before…" Konata continued, her eyes slowly becoming duller as she continued. "It felt like my dad." She finished, a weary smile coming onto her face as she turned back to her friends, looking like she was about to break down in tears.

Kagami could only stare; she wanted to yell again, she really did. She'd like nothing more than to punch the girl in the face, call her an idiot, pick her up, and then do it all over again. But that weary, heart-broken face the girl gave her was too much. She should've known out of all them, the one with the most emotional strain right now would be her tiny companion, not her, not her sister, not Miyuki, nobody but the girl.

The tsundere resigned her anger with a sigh, she couldn't stay mad at Konata, or at least not for long, no matter what mess the girl had gotten them into, she could always trust that Konata would get them out of it somehow. She stood up slowly, and making her way over to her friend, plopped down next to the girl, wrapping an arm around her shoulder tenderly and resting a cheek upon her blue little head.

"We'll find him. Don't worry." She gently reassured, even though she could do nothing to reassure herself that they would find him, she would do everything to make sure the bluenette didn't lose her spirits.

Even though the cuddled girl could do nothing but appreciate her friends' efforts to cheer her up, her tendencies for situations such as this couldn't be quelled, even in such a serious moment. "So dere-dere…" Konata whispered, hoping for a little rile, but earning none, as her friend still just gently held her, eyes closed and oblivious to the world.

Wherever Kagami was, she didn't know, she didn't care. Suddenly the impending doom all around her in this damned kingdom seemed to fade away, and she was exactly where she needed to be, in the arms of the one she…

"Yo! Kagami? Living things need to breathe! Dying here! Hello!" Konata squirmed as she attempted to release herself from the iron lock grip her friend now had placed around her, and at the sound of coughing, Kagami snapped herself back to the real world, unfolding the arms she now had firmly wrapped around her tiny companion.

"S-Sorry! I was just…sorry." Kagami sheepishly replied, only earning hacking and coughing in response as the bluenette over-dramatically collapsed to the ground and rolled around.

Finishing her little schpeal, Konata sat up with a grin, placing a hand tenderly to her tsunderes with a chuckle. "Thanks Kagamin, I needed that." She gently said to her friend, but before the lilac-haired girl could respond, the bluenette stood up quickly, making her way slightly in the distance, checking at the surroundings to see if anything was familiar, and just as she thought, it certainly wasn't.

"So, where are we anyway?" Konata asked with hands behind her head, not really expecting any of her friends to know, but it didn't hurt to ask.

"I've been trying to figure that out for awhile Izumi-San." Miyuki sounded, retrieving the archaic map from her pack and studying it once more, her hands running over the musty surface gently. "But that's the thing; we were around the ending point of the Morrid Forests, but ever since yesterday…when that light engulfed us…" Miyuki slowly sounded out, as if she was still trying to believe it herself. "…I have no idea where we could be, this area doesn't even seem to be on the map before the fog set in, and it certainly couldn't have been built after." Miyuki puzzled as she attempted to solve the mini mystery the girls found themselves in, pressing her glasses to her nose firmly in an attempt to clear her mind.

Looking to the sky, Konata thought about what the orb of light had spoke to her about, the Old One, something about slumber, and they were somewhere in the middle of it, without a clue. She wanted to figure out what the orb was talking about, why it approached her, and what it all meant, but she couldn't let her selfish needs go before that of the group, she was being selfish enough by dragging them all along with her in the first place. She needed to focus on the now, and by doing that, she'd need a game plan.

"Well, why don't we go check out the area?" Konata asked with her back still turned to the group, earning a weary sigh from the twin-tailed girl.

"As much as I hate to admit it, you're right; we need to figure out where we are before we do anything." Kagami groaned as she stood up, her body still slightly aching and rusty.

The makeshift campsite was disassembled quickly enough, the supplies repacked, and the wills of the girls reaffirmed as they stared out at the new and more than likely dangerous land placed before them. Konata was at the lead of course, followed closely by Kagami and Miyuki, with Tsukasa taking the rear as always.

This world in the fog seemed so familiar to their own, but at the same time, it did not. This world had grass, and trees, animals, rain and shine, it had it all, but at the same time, it was different. There was a constant heaviness that one felt when in the fog, it loomed over them, it weighed down on them, and it ate away at them. The fog seeped into every pore on the body, and ones with weak minds and bodies could do nothing against it, nothing but surrender to the fog, and be consumed like the rest.

At first glance, many would consider these girls to be of weak mind and body, but appearances can be very deceiving. While young, these minds were among the strongest-willed, and while meek, these bodies were tough enough to harsh out the dangers these lands presented.

Off in their own worlds, the girls had barely noticed the moving presence in front of them, and stopping herself before it was too late, Konata quietly hushed her breathing, and placed her arms out in front of her to stop her friends from advancing. In front of them was a shuffling something, in fact, it was a person at first glance.

The girls stared at it for a moment, or at least most of them, the absent-minded girl at the rear had kept walking, right past her friends, and right into the field of vision of the man.

"Tsukasa!" Kagami yelled out, and that was all that was required for the man to become alert, and turning towards the girls, his face was revealed to them. His eyes were double back into his skull, almost like they were sucked inwards, and his jaw was cracked downwards, almost as if it had been dislocated, this man was no longer sane, he was without a soul.

Finally coming back to the world, the mumbling and stunned girl could do nothing as the soulless husk of a man drew his sword and raised it to the air, ready to chop the girl down the middle, but his efforts would be in vain, as this was a case of four on one.

A split second before the sword cleaved into the girl, two more blades made an x formation over her, blocking the advancing blades assault. Her eyes slowly quivering open, Tsukasa looked on both sides of her, noticing her sister and Konata defending her with all their might, trying their hardest to push the blade of the husk back.

"O-Onee chan! Kona-Chan!" Tsukasa smiled, only to be roughly yanked backwards by a pair of hands, belonging to their bespectacled friend.

"Are you alright?" Miyuki asked tenderly, earning a nervous yet happy nod from the girl, and directing her attention back to the husk, Miyuki calmed herself. "Izumi-San! Kagami-San! Move, quickly!" The girl called out, her two friends hearing her call and tearing their blades away from the husks, jumping on either side of the deranged man.

Reaching into her coat pocket in a flash, Miyuki pulled out a book that probably shouldn't have even been able to fit inside of the small holder, and flipping several pages, she placed her hand firmly onto desired one. "Forgive me!" Miyuki muttered, her hands suddenly becoming warmer by the second, until they felt as though they were on fire.

Before she knew it, her hands were glowing orange, and engulfed in flame, but she felt no pain, she only felt resolve. Placing her hand out in front of her, a large blast of fire suddenly shot from her palm, flying faster than a human eye could keep up with, and crashing hard onto the husk's chest, nearly blowing the man in two, sending his decayed bits and pieces flying every which way onto the hard muddy ground.

Feeling a bead of sweat run down her neckline, Miyuki conceived, finally releasing the breath she was holding and falling onto her knee, casting magic of any kind was rough on a person, but to an inexperienced individual, it took a physical toll on them, sacrificing their own life energy in trade for using the spells.

"Miyuki-Chan!" Tsukasa worriedly sounded, holding the wobbling girl steady and slowly pulling her to her feet.

"You okay?" Konata asked with a grin, knowing her friend had done well, and that something like that wouldn't be enough to get her down. She received only a gentle nod in response, and that was enough for her. "Good, onward!" Konata cheered, only to be roughly pulled back by the collar by her tsundere.

"Konata, get real! Miyuki, you sure you're okay?" Kagami asked, once again earning a tilted nod and a chuckle, which didn't make her feel any better about her friend, but she would have to trust the girl. Kagami knew about the deadly effects magic could have on the user, and the terrible price that one must pay in the end.

"Everyone, please, I'm fine. As Izumi-San says, it'll take more than that to stop me." Miyuki quoted with a chuckle, earning a thumbs up from her bluentte friend in response.

"If you're sure…" Kagami gently said, turning back to the mess and splatter on the ground that used to be something, something that was living. This wasn't their first encounter with things such as the husks since they had entered the fog, and they had all come to an agreement long before that these things were no longer people, and that they weren't killing anyone, that they weren't taking human lives. They resolved that this was in fact mercy they were placing upon these shells of former humans, and that upon their death; they could finally feel peace once more.

Finally wrenching her way out of her friends grip, Konata continued forward, sliding herself against the wall and checking onward, there was nothing, the coast was clear for now. "Clear!" She sounded, her friends right behind her, slowly making their way into a small building, which was likely one of many entrances to the small keep, and the dead end they were in was likely a defensive point should other ones be overrun by the enemy, or at least, that _was_ its purpose.

The room they entered wasn't dark; it was brightly illuminated by a rather large hole in the roof for sunshine to make its way into, and by the torches that lined the walls. The keep was destroyed, by what, the girls didn't know, but it certainly wasn't in the same condition as before the fog had set in.

The wreckage wasn't what stunned the girls however, it was what lined the hallways, torn and scattered, decayed and rotting.

"A-Are they all dead…?" Tsukasa chimed in suddenly, her eyes steadily closing so she wouldn't have to look at this any longer, look at what the fog had done.

"Looks like." Konata quietly responded, her eyes surveying the bodies. Most of them were wearing soldier outfits, and were likely the knights that defended the keep, and they did so to their last breath. That isn't what stung the girls' hearts however; it was what was mixed in with the bodies of the soldiers, the corpses of civilians. Men and women who weren't even in the military, who probably couldn't even defend themselves when the fog hit their small keep, and next to them, even smaller bodies, and at this, a gag escaped one of the girls.

"I've had enough, let's keep moving!" Kagami said with a cough, trying to force the liquid that threatened to escape her throat back downwards, she needed to be used to things like this, for in Boletaria, it was commonplace.

"Right…" Konata responded just as quietly as before, and the girls made their way through the corpse-infested room, stepping over the bodies of people's husbands, people's wives, and people's children.

Slowly stepping over the corpses, without notice, one of them suddenly stirred behind the girls, and before they could react, gangly hands had wrapped around the leg of none other than Tsukasa, and her shrill shriek of terror echoed throughout the room, nearly causing the other girls to scream in response.

Turning her head quickly, Kagami pushed her friends out of the way and made her way to her sister, brushing past even her without a thought, and raising her sword over the head of the half-dead husk on the ground. She had no second thoughts about driving it into the beast, the sword piercing whatever was left of its heart, and in a moment, its hand slowly released her sister, and plopped lifeless onto the ground.

Tsukasa couldn't handle it, this was all too much for her, and she couldn't stop the hot steamy tears that now ran down her face. She couldn't take it, she hated this place, she hated everything about it, nothing would convince her that she didn't want to go home, and just give up, because she did, more than anything.

"Tsukasa, are you alright? Hey, talk to me here!" Kagami worriedly said as she shook her crying sister, checking over her leg and lower body to make sure there were no injuries, but that would be the least of the girl's worries.

"Uh, hey, guys…!" Konata chimed in, her eyes growing wide as she looked behind the twins and noticed one by one, as the corpses of the deceased, or thought to be deceased, slowly shambled to their feet, moans escaping each one as they did so.

"Give me a break!" Kagami screamed, grabbing a hand onto her trance-induced and sobbing sister and running as fast as she could, her friends right behind her. They could handle one, maybe even a few at a time, but they sure couldn't handle dozens of them at once, they had no choice but to make a hasty retreat.

Tsukasa's tears didn't stop as they ran their way up the nearby stairs, in fact, they intensified, she was a wreck now, but she couldn't help herself. She wasn't a warrior, she couldn't fight, and she certainly couldn't be the one to help her friends if they were in any sort of danger, what could she do? Nothing, as far as she was concerned, and she hated herself for it.

They reached the top of the stairs in a flash, but that didn't mean the legion of husks weren't still hot on their trail, they needed a plan and fast. Casting her eyes around the room, the girls bluenette leader looked for something, anything that would aid them in their time of need, and with a smile, she found it.

"Kagami! Help me over here!" Konata quickly said as she ran over to the object, the twin-tailed girl turning to Miyuki in assurance she would watch over her sister.

Making her way over to the girl, Kagami raised a brow, wondering just what was going on in her friend's mind. "And what exactly are you planning to do with _this?_" Kagami confusedly asked, earning only a chuckle from the excited girl.

"Just grab the other side, help me pull it in front of the staircase!" Konata said as she took one side of the large object, with her friend only resigning that whatever it was, she would have to believe in the girl, they didn't have a lot of options.

Staring down the object, Kagami had seen them many times before back home. They were used to defend keeps, and castles, and were often placed high up on the towering walls to stop advancing troops before they could siege said castle. It was long and sleek, with a hole in the front, and a fuse on the back, and all of it being carried by large wooden wheels.

Pressing the nose of the metal beast into the archway of the stairwell, Miyuki's eyes suddenly lit up at the sight of it, and her jaw slightly dropped.

"A cannon!" She confusedly asked as it placed next to her, and suddenly her hands were grasped in another smaller pair, their bluenette leader shaking them roughly.

"This is your part! Focus your magic into the cannon, then fire!" Konata cheered with a smile brimming to the top with courage, she was ready to do this, she knew they would survive in this place, especially she thought, if she always had brilliant ideas like this.

"B-But, Tsukasa…!" Miyuki tried to say, but was suddenly pulled away from the sobbing girl and placed behind the cannon, her hands on either side of the large object. Through her slightly fogged glasses, Miyuki saw the shadows of the husks, they were almost to the top of the stairs, and they would soon be upon them, she had no time for worry, she had to act, like her friends expected her to.

She closed her eyes gently, and cleared her mind, she let the magic take her over, allowed it a minute to completely consume her. "Magic is wrought by blood." Miyuki calmly said, almost in a trance. "Blood, is consumed by the life force." She continued casually, which to her friends, seemed odd as could be, they had never seen her like this before. "The life force nourishes the soul within me." She whispered to herself, feeling her hands grow hotter by the minute, and before she knew it, the entire cannon was glowing a light red, smoking hot and dangerous to touch for any who didn't know how. "And the soul within me, gives me strength!" Miyuki finished expertly, the fuse of the cannon was suddenly lit, no gunpowder, no cannon ball, it had just lit on its own, and was primed to fire.

An explosion of great force suddenly shot from the cannon, smacking Miyuki backwards by the sheer strength of it. The large ball of fire smashed into the staircase tower before them, consuming it in a raging blast and knocking the entire structure over, causing it to collapse into the ground below, and send the now burning and screaming husk legion with it.

Smoke filled the entire area, shadowing the girls and causing them to hack and shield their eyes from the searing and blinding mist that shrouded them. The only noises that Miyuki could hear as she steadily made her way to her feet was the crackling of fire, the crumbling of stone, and the screaming of the burning husks below them.

"Everyone!" Miyuki worriedly called out, earning no response. She didn't need one however, as before she could even react, she suddenly felt gentle arms wrapped around her, pulling her to the ground with a thud, and glancing around her, she saw her friends laughing and cheering.

"Miyuki! That was amazing!" Konata said with a laugh, sitting up and shaking her friend excitedly, she couldn't even contain how she felt even in a situation such as this.

"I'll say! How did you even do that?" Kagami asked with equal excitement, and as much as she hated to admit it, she couldn't stop herself from saying it. "That was awesome!" She cheered, completely forgetting the danger they had just been in, and not even caring.

Tsukasa was the only one not in the pile laughing, but she felt it, she felt the happiness that poured from her friends as she watched them sheepishly. Her eyes had since stopped leaking, and her heart had stopped hurting. They could survive in this place, they could do it together. However, Tsukasa knew they wouldn't last long if she continued to act as she did, apprehensive towards everything, scared by every shadow and rat on the cold floor, she would have to be stronger, braver.

She approached her friends quietly, clearing her throat to stop their celebration, and it did, as they gazed upon the now tenderly smiling girl, who bowed to them as graciously as she could. "Thank you for saving us, Miyuki-Chan…and, I'm sorry." Tsukasa said as bravely as she could, trying to show just how sincere she was in her apology.

"Sorry? For what?" Miyuki innocently asked, but before Tsukasa could answer, her sister's arms were gently placed around her shaking frame.

"It's alright, Tsukasa. You don't have to be brave…I can be brave for you." Kagami resolved, but her sister only gently pushed off of her, shaking her head fiercely.

"No! I mean…no, onee-chan. You can't be brave for me; I need to be brave for myself. I won't let it happen again, I promise." Tsukasa resolved, continuing her bow from before, trying to lower her head as much as she could. She felt so lowly before her friends, who were fighting to survive while she cowered behind them. She couldn't allow herself to do this any longer, no, she _wouldn't _allow herself to.

"Not bad, Tsukasa." Konata suddenly sounded, and glancing up from her bow, she saw her bluenette friend winking, a firm thumbs up next to her grinning face, which earned gentle giggle from the younger twin. "There we go! Nobody wants to see a sad Tsukasa; it's bad for your health y'know!" Konata noted, earning a grumble from the older twin.

"Well, your weirdness aside…I'm proud of you, Tsukasa." Kagami gently said, placing a gentle kiss on her sister's forehead with a giggle, but immediately stopping herself when she heard the groans of the husks below.

Making their way to the smoldering crater now present in the keep, the girls peered over it and down to the ground below, amazingly, some of the husks had survived the blast, and were attempting to crawl up the wall, and although failing, it wouldn't be long until they figured out how to do it properly.

"We should keep moving. They'll catch up if we don't." Kagami sounded, earning no protests from her friends.

The girls made their way through the crumbled hallway of a room, which had no wall on one side, showing what one might consider a beautiful view of the castle, the setting sun, and the wilderness beyond. However tantalizing the scenery was to the eyes, it could do nothing but remind the girls of what a wonderful place Boletaria might have been before the fog had set in, and how it must've looked through the eyes of its people, before they had become monsters.

"Come on." Kagami motioned to her bluenette leader, who was staring out into the distance, thinking only of the warm presence still within her that would not leave her, not that she wanted it to anyway.

The girls were led across several walkways, each one filled with the bodies of soldiers, and each one look more crumbled and destroyed than the last. Konata looked at the men and women that lay across the ground on top of one another, some shielding others, some shielding themselves, some not even in one piece. She wondered what ran through their minds during their last moments, did they think of their family? Did they have any regrets? Were they young? Old? Did they have children to carry on their legacies? Honestly, she didn't want to know. She felt bad for them, yes, but she couldn't allow her pity for these damned souls to weigh down upon her.

The girls scaled ever higher in the keep, making their way up another large and winding circular stairway, which appeared to be the last. This would lead them to the top of the keep, and would give them a clear view for miles, one that would allow them to find out where they were, and if at all, how close they were to the Boletarian palace.

At the top of the stairs they were presented with one last walkway, lined once again, with corpses of soldiers, broken cannons and ballista, and dried blood. It seemed the higher they climbed, the more bodies there were, but what was strange, was that none of these bodies belonged to whatever demons assaulted this keep. The only corpses present were those of the defending army, their families, and the civilians.

"What happened to this place?" Konata suddenly sounded, growing ever more curious as they stared down at the keep before them, crumbled, burning and destroyed. "It doesn't even look like anything really attacked, almost as if they…" Her eyes suddenly shot open wide at the thought, and turning to her tsundere next to her, the girl wore a similar grim face.

"They did it to each other." Kagami whispered in disbelief, even though she knew it was the truth. "When one loses their soul, they go insane…they become violent, mindless." She continued, placing a hand over her heavy heart as she explained the extent of her knowledge on the subject, not that she was a proud bearer of said knowledge of anything.

"W-What?" Tsukasa worriedly said, scanning the bodies of the soldiers on the ground. "You mean…they all…even their families? And friends?" Tsukasa once again said, her voice now a light yell, and a soft lump forming inside of her throat.

She received no answer, and instead just decided that it would be best not to dwell on the subject. The very idea that someone could turn on the ones they loved in an instant, out of their minds, and do them harm, didn't even register within the poor girl, it was beyond her grasp.

"Something probably took their souls." Miyuki chimed in, the girls knowing quite well what she was trying to say. "A demon." She finished, earning several whimpers from Tsukasa, who despite saying she would be brave, couldn't help herself.

"Do you think it's still-" A roar was all the answer Konata needed, a moaning, wretched sound coming from the large barred wooden door at the end of the small pathway. The door was at least twenty feet high, and probably equal across. Whatever had weaseled its way into this castle, whatever had made its people turn on one another, was still alive, and was still hungry for souls.

"L-let's get out of here before it knows we're here!" Tsukasa mumbled as she grabbed onto her sister, her entire body shaking and shuddering.

"Good idea, I'm sure if we head out now we'll be long gone, and that freaky thing'll be none the wiser!" Konata pointed out with a smile, trying to reassure her friends.

Konata couldn't even believe she had opened her big mouth as she felt a rumbling behind her, and the sound of wood snapping and cracking, a sound which sent shivers down her body, that tensed her up completely. "Or not." Was all she could say with a sigh, she knew she was cursed with bad luck, how could this possibly get any worse?

"Ow…" Kagami whispered to herself, feeling a burning within her ankle, that same seeping feeling she had felt many times before. She couldn't help it, she had to live with it now, it was a part of her. "Agh…" The pain surged within her, causing her to drop onto her knee, a painful, hard cough suddenly wretched out of her throat, and saliva shot out in all directions from her mouth. Her eyes dampened from the pain in her foot, which was now spreading to her chest, she couldn't hear anymore, where was that ringing coming from? She didn't know, she glanced to her sides; Miyuki at her back, patting it gently as she coughed out whatever ailed her, and her precious sister at her side, worriedly trying to snap her older twin back into reality.

"I really to learn to shut up." Konata mumbled to herself as she saw her coughing and weakened friend, but she didn't have much time to worry about that, as before she knew it the gigantic door was suddenly split in two, the large pieces of timber flying off the sides of the castle and landing somewhere out of the girls field if vision.

What stepped out, she couldn't describe. It looked somewhat like an elephant, a creature she had read about in books that existed somewhere far off in the world, in the wilds. Its similarities to the creature were few, but they were noticeable. Its skin was a deep shade of gray, and was wrinkled and scarred. Its feet were just like the creature from the books, round like trees trunks, with toes that barely discerned themselves from the whole of it.

This is where the similarities ended, as this beast stood on two feet, and its arms, were those of a man, complete with five fingers, this was the only human like feature. Its body was bulbous, and fat, its large gut sticking outwards, caked in its own juices, stained in blood, and saliva.

Looking ever higher, Konata's heart stopped when her eyes met the beasts. The creature's face had only two features, at the top, at least a dozen yellow glowing eyes, and at its bottom, where a mouth should have been, an assortment of squid-like tentacles, which constantly squirmed and wiggled like worms.

On either side of its head, large ram-like horns, which extended down to its shoulders, and upon its back, the wings of a bat, not strong enough to even help the over-sized creature fly, they seemed utterly useless, but still menacing nonetheless.

"Woah…" Konata muttered, she had never seen anything like this before. This was no regular demon, that much was certain, it was in a league all its own, and it seemed to relish in this fact as it slowly made its way out of the doorway and into the blood red sunlight, drool seeping like a waterfall from its hidden jaws, placed behind a shield of tentacles.

The beast roared once more, its bellowing grumbles shaking the very ground at its feet. It eyed its prey, not as individuals, but as sustenance. It could no longer recognize if things were living or dead, or even separate, it could only see the things that gave off soul energy, and it could only think about how it needed them, how it needed more and more, and when it had consumed these souls? All it would think about was where it could find more, to achieve that same high, that same feeling it experienced when it brought the souls within itself.

"Not good…" Konata mumbled, her eyes following the beasts hand as it slowly arched it upwards, ready to strike it down like lightning upon the bluenette. She jumped forward, and the hand barely missed her. Crashing onto her stomach hard, she glanced upwards, now directly under the beast, she saw how large it really was. She couldn't be certain, but it must've been at least twenty feet tall.

The monster attempted to step directly on her as though she were an insect before it, but its movements were slow and sluggish, and she had ample time to roll out of the way as its foot came crashing down onto the ground. She crawled on all fours like a dog, squirming her way under the archway in between its legs and standing behind the beast.

She didn't have time to think, she had to try something, anything to stop it. She stabbed the beast with her sword, directly in its heel, which she thought might stop it, but it seemed to do nothing, nothing but make it angrier.

The monsters foot suddenly bucked backwards, and the bluenette had no time to react, its rough and person-sized surface hit her directly, sending her flying through the wreckage of the smashed door and onto the cold stone ground.

"Kona-Chan!" Tsukasa yelled out to her friend, only to be met with the glowing eyes of the monster, which now seemed focused on her.

The beast slowly heaved an inward breath, and roared once more, sending shock waves along the ground and causing the corpses littered upon it to suddenly take flight, flowing in all directions and crashing down upon one another, others falling off of the keep entirely and to the ground far below.

Tsukasa slowly opened her eyes to see that a shield had been placed in front of her, but not a normal one. This shield was made up of a golden light, and was placed across the entire length in front of the girls. Attached to it, was the groups ever ready to assist mage, Miyuki, who had just saved the girls lives. Had the shock wave of the roar connected, they could have been sent flying off of the keep and down to their doom, no one could survive such a fall.

Inside the chamber where the demon slept, Konata stirred slightly on the ground. It felt as though every bone in her body was shattered, she couldn't move, she felt paralyzed by the sudden horse kick. It did more than knock the wind out of her, it knocked the life out of her, and she was barely hanging on by a thread as she lay on the ground below her, the cold stone ground, slicked with not only water, and the fluids of the beast, but now her own blood.

Konata gently turned her head, and noticed that a pool of blood was slowly forming around her, wherever she was injured, it wasn't just a simple cut or bruise. She was probably internally injured as well, but once again, wherever that was, she couldn't tell, she didn't even have time.

She heard her friends yelling, and balls of fire being hurled at the beast, she knew they were doing everything in their power to try and stop it, but what chance did they have? Probably none she thought suddenly, wanting to kick herself for even thinking that way, but really, what chance _did _they have?

The pain in her body was so extreme she began to not even feel it any more, the nerves in her body shorted out from sheer pressure, and suddenly, she felt tired, and cold. She wanted nothing more than to snuggle up in a nice blanket, sewn from sheep, and just live in it at that moment. She wanted nothing but one more drink of water, as her throat grew ever drier by the second, she wanted to taste it, but she couldn't understand why.

She wanted to see the smiling faces of her friends, of Tsukasa and Miyuki laughing at her jokes that they couldn't understand, smiling at one another as best friends often do. She wanted to see Kagami's face, not one of anger, or horror, as she so often saw upon the face of the girl these days, but one of happiness. She wanted to see that girl smile, the smile that sent shivers down her spine every time she saw it, and melted her heart, the smile that let her know she couldn't give up, if just to see it one more time.

And most of all, she wanted to see her father; she wanted to see him happy again. She wanted to see him in his prime, when love filled his heart, and when he could do nothing but smile at his own fortune at how lucky he was to have a family, and better yet, a family that showered him with love and affection, and that he could do the same in kind.

Konata wanted all of this, but as she felt herself slowly slip in and out of reality, into that cold, painful sleep that was threatening to consume her, she knew she could not have it.

She didn't want to die, she didn't want her friends to die, she just wanted to see it all one more time. Would she have the chance? She didn't know, she couldn't even think about it for much longer, her eyelids slowly drooped, and her vision of the world faded, was she dying? It didn't feel like it, then again, she didn't know what dying felt like.

If this _was_ what death felt like, she mused that it wasn't so bad; her mind was filled with nothing but happy thoughts, ones that tickled her insides with warmth, and put a slight curve of a smile on her lips.

Before she surrendered herself to the darkness, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye, something she had seen before. It was faint in the darkness all around her, but still made an impact upon it, made its presence known.

It was an orb, one of golden light.

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**Author's Note: **It's a real shame when you're incredibly inspired to write, but find your mind preoccupied with so many other things that you simply can't. Emotionally I've been somewhat of a wreck these past few days, but I'm slowly working my way out of the slump and back into my cheery old self, time mends all wounds eh? In case you hadn't noticed yet, I do so love cliffhangers, without them, what urges the reader to keep on reading? Nothing, in my opinion, or at least not much, depending on the story anyway. Not a lot of dialogue this chapter, but I did that on purpose as a sort of test. I wanted a chapter filled with more action that talking, as the last two were light on the action, and heavy on the dialogue. A change of pace never hurts things, that's for sure...or does it? If it does, tell me, and I'll find a medium between action and dialogue.

**P.S. : Hits and such are love, but reviews show how much you really care! Review please! And be harsh! **


	4. The Nexus

**Lucky Souls **

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**Chapter 4: The Nexus **

"Soul of the mind, key to life's ether."

Darkness all around, coldness inside and out, was it death that took her, or something far worse? As the young girl floated alone in that darkness, that unending abyss around her, she wondered if it was all really worth it.

"Soul of the lost, withdrawn from its vessel."

She wondered if all of this was really worth losing her life for, worth her friends losing their lives, both physically, and emotionally. She made them give up everything to even attempt to join on her in this journey, what right did she have? Their parents weren't missing, their lives were peaceful, they could have just lived, but no, she would have none if it.

"Let strength be granted, so the world might be mended."

Maybe her father didn't even want her to pursue him, in fact, deep down, she knew he didn't. Had he wanted her to come with him, he would have said so. And if he had asked, would she have gone? She didn't know, she couldn't know, not now, not after she had failed so miserably. Such a cold, dreary death was a fitting end for one such as her, she mused, and she hoped her friends would not be judged as harshly in the after life, they were innocent bystanders in her opinion.

"So the world might be mended."

Her father was gone, and she should have just faced facts, moved on. No, but she couldn't, could she? It's hard to lose someone you care about, but it's worse if you don't even know the reason. If her father yet lived, she had to know, more than anything she just wanted to know. She wanted him to live, and live with her, she wanted to go back home to their small, rusty shack of a house. She wanted to laugh with him, to cry with him, to live with him, she wanted nothing less, and nothing more.

"Awaken."

Her train of thought was suddenly torn; she heard something, quietly humming in her ears. It was a soothing voice, very low pitched, but beautiful at the same time, the voice of a young woman, no doubt. She didn't know where, but somehow that voice was familiar to her.

"Awaken."

It spoke to her again, what did it want? She was tired, she wanted to rest at last, after everything she had gone through, she just wanted to rest. It seemed the voice would not let her be, it would not let her go, and it had no intention to. It needed her, and she needed it.

"Awaken."

Suddenly, colors began to form in front of her again. The blackness that threatened to consume her faded, slowly but surely, and began to form objects, shapes. She moved her hand instinctively, and the appendage slowly became solid in front of her eyes, forming fingers, as if she was still growing in her mother's womb for the first time.

Looking down, the girl watched as she suddenly sprouted legs, and upon them, ten perfect toes, she really was being born she thought to herself with a chuckle.

Blue came into her field of vision next, vast amounts of it seemingly pouring from nowhere, and as she noticed, it was her hair, folding itself down her back, over her forehead, and next to her cheeks. It rolled like mountains across a plain, and ended far below her.

She blinked, once, twice, until like clockwork she found herself checking to make sure she could still see. She reached her still forming hand to her face, and felt warm, flushed skin. She could _feel, _and she was amazed at that, she could feel her heart as it slowly pumped blood throughout her body. She could feel the light pulse in between her fingers, upon her neck, and in her toes.

The ground below her was there, but it was not at the same time. The ground was composed of light, of clock-like shapes, each clicking downwards, as if signaling something. A barrier, she thought at first, something for sealing, it was a mages trick, and she knew it well.

She glanced upwards, and saw nothing but stairs, winding staircases leading up into the heavens, the dimly glowing light above her. Wherever the stairs led, she didn't know, they seemed to go up into eternity. Statues were also situated around the area, massive ones the size of small buildings, however, each one was hanging by its feet, blindfolds over their marble eyes. The statues hung upside down, from the ceiling, but she could not tell how or why they did this, they simply did.

Around her, were six similarly shaped archways, each one with a different figure and pattern upon it. She didn't know what they were, what they signified, or what they were for, but each one appeared more menacing than the last.

The girl felt life flow into her once more, the shaping process was complete, and she was now fully aware of her surroundings. This place was dark, and damp, lit only by the thousands of candles that lined its walls. At first glance, it seemed uninhabited, but as she looked around, she saw there were others. There were people here, shops, families, it almost looked like a refugee camp for those caught in war time, but she could tell something was off.

She attempted to stand, only to wobble back down her feet. She had no energy, she couldn't catch her breath, something about this place weighed down upon her, would not allow her to attempt to rest.

"Welcome." A voice suddenly sounded, she noted it was the voice from the blackness, the one that hummed in her ears, and that beat inside her mind.

Her ears twitched in the direction of the voice, and turning, she nearly gasped at the sight.

"You…" She managed to breath, slowly standing up to face this person. She had seen her before, and she knew that voice. This was the woman that haunted her dreams, whose cold stare wretched within her every moment of every day since their meeting. She was one who had spoken to her father, whom had given her lodging in her time of need.

"Yes, Konata. I had a feeling we might meet again." She quietly spoke, her long blue hair still tied in that same braided pony tail. Her features, as soft and gentle as ever, and her eyes, still fogged with cold blindness. "But I did not expect it to be in the Nexus, of all places." She sounded once more, a slight smirk appearing on her face as she spoke.

The smile almost made the bluenette wish to strangle her; it was almost a mocking smile, like she was making fun of her. It made her even angrier that the woman had remembered her name, like she somehow thought she was worthy of remembering, she didn't wanted to be remembered by a woman such as this. Her anger had to be put aside for the moment however, she had no idea where she was, or what was going on, she needed answers.

"The Nexus?" She asked as she surveyed the area, her eyes trying to memorize every cast shadow, every crack in the wall, and every source of light.

"Indeed. This place is all that holds the northern kingdom of Boletaria together. For without it, there would be no kingdom." She began to explain, placing her hands in the air and beginning to stroll, and as Konata noticed, for a blind woman, she sure knew how to step over every crack and pebble on the musty floor. "Each of the arch stones will connect you to another node, but beyond that, this kingdom is broken."

Konata heard the woman speak, but she didn't pay attention to much of anything that escaped her lips. She only wanted to know one thing, where her father was, this woman likely knew. Everything was fine, then she just showed up, and her father vanished, putting two and two together like that would make it all the easier to the cut the blind woman down, but Konata was no murderer, and she wouldn't allow herself such base thoughts.

"Who are you, really?"

A silence filled the air, and the braided maiden stopped in her tracks. She turned towards her questioner, but her face did not change, she didn't seem threatened by the question, but she did not seem overly eager to answer it either.

"Who I am is not important." She whispered dully, her gaze slowly shifting towards the endless staircases of the Nexus. "The Monumental awaits you above; it will explain the Nexus to you." Once again in a whisper, and content with herself, the blinded woman turned to leave, only to be grabbed by her robe by a tiny hand.

"Uh, hey, I'm not done talking to you yet." Konata started, not even attempting to hide the anger in her voice, but before she could question further, the robe melted from her hand, and the maiden slowly vanished before her eyes. "Hey, wait!" She yelled after the disappearing girl, but was met only with her own echo in response.

Glancing upwards at the staircases, she groaned inwardly, would she really have to climb all of those things to find out what was going on? Apparently so, she thought to herself, maybe this 'monumental' the maiden spoke of would have the answers she sought, then again, it wasn't as if she had any other options.

As she began her ascent up the many flights of stairs, the girl allowed herself a moment of reprieve. What had happened? She couldn't recall, the last she remembered she was dying, or dead, she didn't know if she had made it to that stage yet. And before that…light, again, always with the light she moaned to herself.

And what of her friends? They were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps they didn't share the same fate as her, was this hell? Punishment for her sins? She wasn't _that_ bad of a person she mused, that might be a little extreme. Plus, there's no way Miyuki or Tsukasa would be in hell, her tsundere on the other hand…

She allowed herself a chuckle; it was a simple charity, and the only thing she could do to keep her spirits up in such a situation. She was in quite the mess, and if she even wanted to begin to get herself out of it, she would need to speak to this monumental.

Reaching the apex of the staircases, Konata found herself in a curved room lit only by candles, and the ever-present glow that seemed to fill the nexus. Slumped against its walls were bodies, each one looking exactly like the last, young, bald, and wrapped in a cloak. In front of each, a candle, but all of them were unlit save one.

Letting her eyes drift towards the one light in the darkness, she made her way over to it, and found that one of these husks still lived.

"Hey, are you the-" She was interrupted by a chuckle, an eerily familiar one, what was this pattern of familiarity she kept finding in these strange lands? Honestly, she was getting tired of it.

"We have long awaited you, slayer of demons." The husk began, its listless eyes slowly drifting up to meet the girls. "I am one of the Monumentals. We preserve the fabric of reality." The husk continued, its candle light slowly swaying in tune with its voice, which seemed to speak from many voices, a man, a woman, a child.

"Look, I don't mean to sound rude, but can you just tell me what's going on? Where am I? Where are my friends?" Konata impatiently interrupted, growing tired of these games. She loved a good mind game, but only when she wasn't the one being vexed.

"There is something thou need's to know." The monumental whispered, it's voice causing a slight rumble within the bluenette, she figured it might be best to just listen at that point, whatever this force was that she felt secreting from the Monumental, it certainly wasn't human.

The Monumental's cloak slowly ruffled, and from it, two gangly looking arms holding an old book. The husk opened it slowly, and upon its pages, nothing.

"Uh…" Konata mumbled to herself, getting down on her haunches to make sure she wasn't missing anything. Suddenly however, a drop of black appeared on the book, it looked like ink she thought. The ink blots slowly began to form into pictures, and finally came into view as six equally shaped stones, in fact, they looked quite a bit like the ones she had seen at the bottom of the Nexus.

"Once, we too faced a scourge of demons." The Monumental began, slowly brushing its hand over the illustration. "In the distant past, under the benevolent rule the world was united, owing to the soul arts." The picture upon the pages suddenly began to change, its form taking on the shape of hands, clasped in unity. "Until, a lust for power caused the awakening of the Old One, and across the land seeped a colorless deep fog." At the husks words, the picture changed once more, this time into the Old One, the great demon that had caused the destruction of Boletaria, the one from Miyuki's book. It looked as snarled and beastly as ever, it's root like maw still offering the same tantalizing glow.

"And the world…faced extinction at the hands of demons." The voice of the monumental almost grew solemn, but why would it Konata thought? Surely it was a demon as well, or something close enough. "Thanks be, we Monumentals were able to lull the Old One back to its slumber, yet only after the loss of innumerable souls, and half the world…erased by the fog." The monumental spoke as the pictures changed with its words, forming once again into the six arch stones.

"In order to mend the fabric of what land still remained, we entrusted six elders with six precious arch stones." Upon the blank slates of the arch stones, figures suddenly began to form on their surfaces, of kings, queens, rulers. "One to the king of a small yet diligent land." Konata knew the man that appeared upon the first stone, it was King Allant the twelfth, ruler of Boletaria. "One to the king of the burrowers underground." Upon the next, an old decrepit looking individual, he wore a mighty beard on his face, and pick ax slung over his shoulder.

"One to the wise queen of the great ivory tower." Upon the third, a beautiful woman, clad in jewels and accessories. "One to the chieftain of lost and ill-fortuned souls." On the next arch stone, a portly man, covered in the juices of his meal and wine, and a large bird-like mask upon his face. "One to the shaman of tempest worshipping shadow men." A man covered by a robe, a thorn crown upon his head and a staff in his hands, he was quite intimidating the bluenette thought. "And the last to the great giants of the northern lands." The final arch stone had nothing but a fist upon it, taking up its entire surface, and in its clench, a human man.

"The arch stones were placed across the earth. We contained the Old One inside the Nexus, and banned the soul arts." As it spoke, the Monumental suddenly became quiet; its voice drifting off as it slowly slumped backwards against the wall with a light sigh. "And finally, we became Monumentals, half living sentinels of the fabric of reality. Alas, the other Monumentals have perished, and only I remain."

As the husk rambled on, the bluenette began to wonder where exactly it was going with any of this talk of demons and destiny, but knew better than to interrupt it a second time. She stared down the demon for any hope of figuring it out, what exactly it told her all this for. Its eyes held no answers, just pits, and more mystery, it could be lying about everything, but why would it? It wanted something, and as much as she hated to acknowledge the fact, she had a hunch of what the husk wanted from her.

"Now, it is your turn." The husk spoke once more. "You must lull the old one back to its slumber, and seal it away for all eternity. If not, the deep fog will absorb all that we know. Have you the strength to accept this mission?" As it finished its little hiring pitch, the husk let a lazy smile drift onto its face, almost as if it wanted to come across as caring or friendly, Konata thought.

"Look, before I agree to or say anything, I have some questions, and I really can't accept half-wit answers, alright?" Konata spoke in an unusually impatient tone, she was becoming more like her tsundere every day, not that she minded the influence.

"Ask, and I shall answer." The husk spoke, its smile slowly melting into a more indifferent façade to whatever it was truly feeling.

"Okay. One, where are we exactly? You called this place the Nexus, the fabric that holds reality together or something…so without this place, the fog would cover the world?" Konata asked rather dully, hoping for an upbeat answer like 'not if you seal the Old One!' or 'you can do it, champ!', but the husk offered only a grimace.

"Quite so." The answer was short and sweet and to the point, and offered nothing else, Konata supposed this was probably for the best, she was still trying process everything anyway.

"Okay. Question two, what is the Old One? Why is it doing this?" She asked the husk hopelessly, not expecting anything other than 'it's a demon', but she figured she might as well give it a shot.

"The Old One is timeless. It has always been, it is like a parasite, it latches hold, and then fills itself on life force until finished, but unlike a parasite, its hunger is never satiated." The Monumental spoke just as grimly as before, it did have first hand experience after all.

"That's not good…" Konata mumbled, rubbing the back of her head, probing herself for further questions she could ask in this dire hour. "Okay, here's another. Am I dead? What happened? Last I remember I was pretty banged up…" As she spoke the words, she felt herself just to make sure she still could, she sure didn't feel dead.

"No. You are not dead, in the traditional sense." At the words, Konata raised a brow, what was the untraditional sense? "You are in a state of limbo, as it were, not entirely living, but not deceased either, and you shall remain this way as long as you are trapped in the Nexus." The husk continued to explain, and at the word trapped, the bluenette breathed out rather hard.

"Whoa, back up. Trapped? What do you mean trapped? Why am I trapped here? How do I get…you know, un-trapped?" Konata questioned desperately, her situation seeming worse and worse as the Monumental continued to explain it.

"Any occupants who are trapped within the Nexus, shall be trapped within forever more, until the Old One has been sealed." The Monumental downwardly claimed, averting its gaze away from the young girl, knowing what she must be feeling at that moment.

The husk was not as heartless as it seemed, it had the body of a demon, but it had once claimed ownership over the heart of a human, it surrendered its mortal self for the greater good, and held no pleasure in the tasks it ordered others to carry out, but like the prisoners of the Nexus, the Monumentals were prisoners in their own way. They had once had friends, family, homes, but relinquished these ties for the whole of the world. As the husk saw that glint of despair in the young girl's eyes, it offered a light to her darkness.

"Your friends are safe, albeit they are trapped in this realm as well." The Monumental sounded, and at the words, Konata's eyes beamed.

"What? Where are they!" Konata demanded, even if she didn't intend for it to come out quite like that.

Silently stirring for a moment, the Monumental seemed hesitant to answer, but if it was to ask this girl for assistance, it would have to lend some of its own.

"It is hard to transport mortal souls, and even harder to bring back them back from the brink of death. I was only able to transport you here, safely to the Nexus. Your friends, however, fell victim to the arch stones, and lost their way." The Monumental explained pleadingly, hoping that the soul warrior it sought would not turn on it. It had tried the best it could, given limited time and resources. "But please, know they will be alright. The one known as Miyuki was transported to a place not too far away, the place you sought. As for the twins…their locations are unknown to me, they were lost somewhere between the Boletarian mines, and the great ivory towers of the mountains. They will be safe, but only for a time." The Monumental finished grimly, and glancing at the young girls now fiery eyes, knew she would like nothing more than to kill it.

Konata stood silent for a moment, brushing her anger against these demons for tugging on her strings like a puppet, controlling her, but she had no time for this. If her friends were truly in danger, she needed to act, and immediately. She turned to leave, seeing the pity the Monumental offered her, but not caring. Although in the pit of her gut, she knew she had no one to blame but herself.

Stopping at the door, she turned to the silent husk, wishing it pain and torment, but secretly thanking it for what meager information it offered her. "I'm not saying no to what you're asking me…but, until I find my friends, it's out of the question. Deal?" The bluenette asked, noticing the slight curve of a smile presenting itself on the Monumental's face.

"Deal, as you say." The husk spoke, almost as if it was enjoying the human mannerisms.

Konata left the Monumental to its devices, and returned to the main room of the Nexus staring across the six arch stones, studying them, and wondering exactly how they worked. She felt a presence behind her as she did so, and knew it was blinded maiden, waiting like a shadow.

"So, these things are like teleporty-things, right? They'll take me places?" Konata asked with her back still turned, not really wanting to deal with the cold stare of the maiden.

"That's right. Each stone connects to a different area of Boletaria." Brushing past the young girl, the blinded maiden began to point to each arch stone, and once again as the bluenette noted, pretty dead on for a blind woman.

"This arch stone is the palace of Boletaria. King Allant the twelfth's seat of power, and his home." She passed the first stone, and Konata recognized it from the Monumental's story, King Allant was indeed engraved upon its surface as well. This was where Miyuki was, according the Monumental, anyway, if it could be trusted.

"This one is the arch stone of the miners. It leads to the great tunnels of Boletaria." Her finger passed over another stone; it too was from the story. "This stone leads to the great Ivory Towers, home of beautiful queen, and the greedy king." It seems the demons could be trusted about some things apparently; the story was true it seemed. "This one leads to the land of the giants, but it has been destroyed for the safety of all." Konata noticed this detail was different, this arch stone was destroyed, probably unusable too, but in the story book it was presented well-maintained.

"This stone leads to the temples of the shadow men, and the last stone, leads to the dead valleys, the dumping grounds." These two arch stones seemed a little more demonic, Konata noted, she should probably stay away from them for now, even glancing in their direction seemed to strain her eyes.

"Okay. So how do I use them?" Konata asked as she stepped up to the first presented stone, the one that would lead her to the palace of Boletaria. This was her original destination after all; she figured she might as well start here. Running her hands over the stone, she felt a vibration, a sort of power it was giving off, it was discerning to say the least.

"Place your hand against the stone, like you are doing now. And clear your mind; the arch stone will pick up on the rest." The maiden explained as she saw the girl closing her eyes gently, probably testing out the process as she explained it, which didn't bode well, at any rate. "Before you go, you should probably know-"

The maiden's words came a second too late, cut off by a sharp whistle and a bright flash of light, queuing that the bluenette had succeeded in the teleportation process. Heaving a sigh, the maiden glanced upwards to the beyond, her lifeless eyes casting across the great statues of gods and goddesses, she sought their guidance, what should she do? She held no joy in her purpose, but everyone must have a purpose, and as she turned towards the arch stone the young girl had vanished into, she grimaced.

"Even you, Konata."

* * *

**Author's Note: **So, yeah, as anyone reading my story has noticed I didn't update for a good three weeks or so. Well, there were bills to paid, the wife complained we don't spend enough time together, the children wanted raises on their allowances, and then I woke up. Seriously though, it won't happen again, just been pretty busy, but that's all passed now, and I'm free as an unemployed rat again! Wahoo! Oh wait, this isn't something to be celebrating about. Regardless, chapters will be released bi-daily, maybe even daily, if I can keep that up.


	5. The Place We Sought

**Lucky Souls**

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**Chapter 5: The Place We Sought **

"You've gotta be kidding me…" She whispered to herself, her tiny blue head poking out behind a still smoking pile of debris.

Before her was the place she had sought, the palace of Boletaria, in all its glory. She had heard legends of the place, of its grand beauty. People would travel for miles to see its lush wildlife, its forests, the colossal snow-peaked mountains with fields of flowers at their feet, but what lay before her was nothing of the sort.

The mountains were cracked, dry and dead, whatever wildlife existed here certainly didn't anymore. The palace and its surrounding areas were a sham of their former selves. Whatever they looked like before, she mused, they definitely didn't hold the same grace.

The castle appeared as though it had gone under siege, and thinking about it, it probably had. The mighty walls were destroyed, blasted apart and thrown every direction, corpses of knights and civilians lined the streets leading up to its former majesty, and those who remained, weren't human anymore.

A mighty cry suddenly drown out all, and shooting a glance to the air, what her eyes beheld she couldn't believe. They were stories back home, nothing more. People would tell of the legends, of brave knights who would go in search of treasure, fame, glory, and would battle these drake-skinned beasts. She never believed such things could actually exist, but in this place, anything could be made a reality.

"A dragon…" The words escaped her lips in disbelief, but at the same time, she couldn't help but entertain a chuckle, it was a real live dragon! Her childhood wonders were coming to life in a flash as she watched the great beast fly over the smoky ruin of the keep, and into the distance.

She couldn't help but feel a little melancholy, were this land still its former self that would have been quite a sight. She shook the feeling from her mind, time was of the essence, and she could expend no more of it.

Absent-mindedly, Konata kicked a helmet in her sudden vigor, and her body went cold as she noticed the noise had alerted pretty much every shambling husk of a human in the area, and all of their dead eyes were currently locked right in her direction.

"Oh crap."

* * *

Thrown to the ground roughly, her glasses flew from her tender face, sliding across the slick ground and into the darkness. Her eye quivered for a moment, and she felt her collar roughly yanked from behind, bringing her eye level to her captor.

She wore a mask across her face, revealing only a single ever-present eye, bloodshot and manic; this person was not sane, clearly. Her attire consisted of torn leather and chains, and she carried a blunt axe, made of stone.

"Traitors to the king will be dealt with accordingly…" She mumbled to herself, throwing the pink-haired girl to the ground once again in a fit of laughter, but where the humor was, she couldn't tell.

The woman left just as quickly as she came, locking the iron-clad door behind her, leaving the young girl trapped alone in the dark and dank cell.

Her tears had long since dried, but soon enough her cheeks were red and stingy again, salty streaks slowly making their way downward. Boletaria was definitely not what she had expected, it was no longer a place fit for anyone, and while she did her best to stay strong, she couldn't help but allow her tears to surface.

She stood up slowly and picked up her glasses, positioning the spectacles back in place over her nose. Making her way to the door, still sobbing silently, she rubbed her hands across its cool surface. Normally, she would be able to wreck a door like this in an instant, even if she was still an apprentice mage; she was not to be trifled with.

The door however, seemed to be reinforced for such things, and she didn't wish to waste what little energy she had left trying to open a door. The only other way she noticed, was down, flights of staircases going ever deeper into whatever dungeon she was in.

With no real choice in the matter, she stumbled over to the cases, making her way to the very bottom in an effort to find something, anything.

At the bottom, she saw something she figured she'd be used to by now, corpses, lots of them, littered around the room and shredded apart. She wasn't used to it, however, and couldn't help herself when she heaved onto the bloody ground at her feet, her knees buckling and sending her downward in the process.

In her coughing and wheezing, she heard slight movement around her, slithering in the darkness. She stood up as fast as she could, visually scanning the room with her palms open, ready to blast any threat into oblivion.

Upon closer inspection, she saw the movement came from one of the corpses, or something she thought was a corpse. She figured it was a Dregling, but it was no such thing. The movement came from a man, covered in injuries most dire, gently slumped against the wall.

"Hey…you're human, right?" The man whispered before coughing violently, a trickle of blood sliding down his chin as he did so.

She didn't answer at first, she couldn't trust anything in this place, and it could just be a demon trick, why would it be though? This was a pretty unusual place for a demon just to wait around and play tricks on the passer bys it would likely never get; more likely, this man was another prisoner of the psychotic woman with the mask.

"T-That's right…" She breathed out quickly, thanking the makers above that she had at last found something sentient she could have a conversation with, anything with, the interaction alone was the only thing that kept her sane at that moment. "I'm Takara Miyuki." She said a little more casually, slowly making her way over to the injured man as he hacked up a few more times.

"Takara…? Name seems familiar, but…I don't know." The man rambled, his blurry vision slowly closing in on the woman before him, her pink hair and slender figure suddenly positioning themselves directly in his field of vision, causing his nose to fire its cannons directly on cue, like water out of a faucet.

"Oh! Are you alright!" Miyuki motioned quickly as the man dizzily slumped against the wall, shaking him several times until he snapped out of his trance, rubbing his head bashfully as he did so.

"Fine, fine…so, Takara, huh?" He groaned as he sat up as best he could, trying not to lose any more blood than he already had. "Shiraishi…Shiraishi Minoru." He joyfully said as he extended his hand, which was awkwardly taken and shook by the shy mage.

Miyuki let her eyes drift over the man, saying he was in bad shape would be an understatement. Something had eviscerated this man; his innards were only being kept inside of him by his own hands, which were latched over his abdomen like a lock. His legs were broken, this much was obvious, they were twisted in unnatural directions, and the bones stuck out in all the wrong places.

She figured he probably didn't have a lot of time left, she was a mage, but she was no healer. She knew nothing of the clerical arts, and couldn't assist this man in the slightest; she could do nothing but keep him company until the inevitable.

"What are you doing here, Takara-San…?" He mumbled as he allowed his head to slump downwards once more. "This is no place for kids…scratch that, for anyone…" He finished with a groan, clenching his eyes and teeth as he held onto his gut in pain.

"Well, I was assisting a friend, a search and rescue mission. I was separated from my group…I don't know what's become of them." Miyuki said downwardly, her mind suddenly thinking up every thing imaginable that could possibly be befalling her friends at that moment, and she shuttered at the thought.

Even with his glazed eyes and blurry vision, Minoru could see this girl was in need of support. Unfortunately, physically he was in no shape to be helping anyone, he could only console her with his words.

"I'm sure your friends are fine…this land can be deadly, but if you're alive, they have the same chance, right? I know better than to get my or anyone else's hopes up in this place…but that's all you can do, right?" He assured, gently reaching his armor-clad hand out to touch the girls shoulder.

"Right." Miyuki nodded, trying her best to just believe in the mans words, after all, it was a miracle he was still alive himself considering the injuries he had sustained. As the armored-hand slowly slumped back down to his stomach, Miyuki noticed something on the glove, an emblem, and not just any emblem. "You…you're a knight of the king? Of King Allant?" Miyuki asked, noticing the slight change in the man's face as she spoke the words.

"Heh…King Allant is no king of mine. In my childhood, I called that man a brother; I would have died for him in a heartbeat. I do not know what he has done, what hells he has unleashed upon these lands, but he must be stopped." Minoru angrily exclaimed, once again groaning and gripping his stomach tightly. "That woman, the one with the mask, she is one of his servants, one of the ones responsible for all this…"

As he spoke, Miyuki watched as his hand slipped into his pack, pulling out several herbs, and a strange wand of sorts. The wand was yellow and black, and was shaped like Jacob's ladder. The dying knight took the girls hands in his own, and placed the objects within.

"I was saving these if I ever got into a rough spot…but I think I'm a little past that point." He said with a chuckle, slowly releasing the girl's warm hands from his own. "The herbs are for healing, and before you get your hopes up…they can't heal me. When digested, these herbs will give you burst of energy, but if taken constantly, can be dangerous. They can heal injuries, but only minor ones. I've heard there are herbs to heal even greater injuries…but I've never seen one, in his final days during his descent to madness, the good King Allant banned the clerical arts from our kingdom, so the knowledge was lost." The knight explained, now turning his attention to the other object in the girl's hand, the wand.

"Now, this…I can tell you're a mage." At the words, Miyuki almost gasped, and retracted herself slightly. Mages weren't the most kindly looked upon people, they would harbingers of death and destruction, and many with the power to use magic could not control themselves, and ended up misusing it, the knight could tell however, this girl was different. "This is an amplifier, it will direct pure magical energy into this wand, and expend it at twice the power, but with a cost, twice the energy. You may be more powerful using this wand, but you'll grow fatigued much quicker…be wary." The knight finished with a cough, this one would be too much for him however, and before he knew it, he saw himself collapse onto the ground with a clack.

"S-Shiraishi-San!" Miyuki desperately called out to the knight, shaking him roughly as his glazed eyes slowly opened.

"It's alright…I was prepared for this. I can't ask you to do anything for me, except this, survive. This place is ruthless, and it won't let you rest, it'll feed on your fear, it's a living thing, and it needs to feed like anything else." Minoru whispered, his voice trailing off more and more as he felt his life fading from him.

"Please, please don't die…I…what do I do?" Miyuki was out of options, she couldn't allow herself to just sit back and let this man die, she had to do something and quick if he were to survive.

Her heart sunk as she heard movement behind her, the sound of stone scraping against stone, and a low-pitched giggle. She turned cautiously, the catalyst still clutched in her hand, and a pain in her chest. She saw the woman, that same bloodshot eye glaring directly at her, she was scared, she knew the corpses that littered this dungeon were her captor's victims, and Minoru, was likely one as well.

"Traitors to the king will be dealt with!" The woman suddenly screamed, running at the pink-haired mage in a frenzy, lifting her large blunt axe to the air with a screech. Miyuki barely dodged the large axe, jumping back slightly and tripping over several bodies, and unknowingly, pushing herself up against the wall, cornered.

The downward slam of the axe was followed by another, but Miyuki saw this one coming, and had ample time to move out of the way as the axe of her attacker suddenly slammed into the musty walls, effectively sticking itself in its surface.

Tick tock, Miyuki thought, she needed a plan, and glancing to the catalyst, she attempted to center herself, to allow her magic to flow into the device, but she had no time. The woman suddenly wretched her axe from the wall and wasted no time in attempting to charge her prisoner once more.

Miyuki expected another slash with the axe, but this was not so, instead she was met with a hard kick to the stomach, which sent her flying backwards into the wall, her back going numb with pain as she coughed out. She had no time to react as the woman suddenly followed up her kick with a knee to the stomach, causing Miyuki to drop to the ground and clench herself, spitting up blood and saliva as she did so.

"Hehe…so foolish. You should have known better than to betray your king, he is so kind, so just, why ever would you betray him!" The woman angrily demanded to know, light giggles between her words making her seem more manic by the minute. "I will show you, the punishment for betrayal!" The woman screamed suddenly, raising her axe to the air in an attempt to sink it directly into the girl below her.

Miyuki clenched her eyes shut and prepared for whatever death awaited her, would it be instant? Painless? She hoped so, but she wouldn't find out, as suddenly a sword split out of the woman's abdomen, and at the sound of blade on flesh, and realizing she wasn't the victim, Miyuki's eyes widened as she saw the deranged woman let out a bloody gurgle.

"You…traitors!" She screamed as she turned around, seeing the wounded knight Minoru, sword desperately clenched in his hands, ripping the blade through the woman's stomach, allowing himself a laugh at the irony.

"Miyuki, now!" The knight yelled as loud as he could, expending the last of his energy and slowly falling to the ground, he had done his part, the mage needed to do hers.

As much as she couldn't believe she was doing it, Miyuki found her center. She allowed herself a calm moment in the chaos, and found her Zen. She clasped her hands over the wand, pointing it at her captor as she struggled to remove the blade from her torso.

Miyuki recalled her training. Her mentor taught her that magic is an extension of the self, and that its power, be it good or evil, weak or strong, would be determined by the user. If the user was shaky, scared and confused, the magic could take hold of them; they could lose themselves in the power, and drown out everything else.

One had to be strong when using magic, a strong mind was necessary, for without it, they would be no more than demons, a body without a soul. The soul was the key, and the soul would be lost without the mind, and the mind would be lost without strength.

Miyuki had lost herself to magic several times, only to be lulled back to peace by her mentor. Her mentor was caring, gentle, and very patient. Most mages in training would be reprimanded for the slightest mistake, as that was all it took. Her mentor used a different philosophy, the learning experience. Mistakes would always be made, and punishment for them wasn't the right idea, instead show what should have been done, make it a lesson. Her mentor was often criticized for this, and was an outcast in regular and mage society for her peculiar ways, but those who dared get close to her, knew how loving and kind she really was.

Her bubbly eyes tore open in a flash, determination practically seeping from them. The catalyst glowed ever brighter, and her pulse quickened, this, she figured, was what the expression 'truly felt alive', was like, and allowing herself a light smile, she knew she was a student no more.

A beam of light suddenly tore its way from the wand, blasting into the deranged woman and sending her flying across the room, crashing through the wall, and revealing sunshine to the prison. Miyuki's eyes glazed at the bright light, and slowly standing up, she made her way to assess the damage.

Poking her head through the hole, she saw it led directly out of the castle, not only that, it led into a deep ravine. Her eyes drifted ever downward into the seemingly infinite darkness, if the blast of magic combined with being impaled didn't kill that woman, somehow, then the fall surely did.

Drifting out of her Zen, Miyuki mentally slapped herself as she remembered Minoru. And turning around, she gasped at the sight.

She didn't know how he did it, it didn't seem physically possible, but somehow he had done it. Her eyes drifted to the brave knight, his entrails were completely gone from the shell of his stomach, laid out behind him in a train of blood and fluids. Somehow, he had found the strength to drag his battered and broken body, losing bits of himself along the way, and stand with two completely broken legs. This was too much for any man, the strain was just too much, but perhaps he was no regular man.

What struck her the most, what stapled itself into her heart at that moment, was his face. It wasn't one of anguish, of disgust, anger, all feelings she thought would be evident in the knight at that moment, it was a smile. His face had molded itself that way, eyes gently closed, mouth curved into a wily grin, whatever he felt in his last moments, she knew it was peaceful.

She wanted to cry for him, to thank him, but she knew it would be disrespectful. He died as bravely as he lived, and spent his last moments protecting others, as knights do. He was the perfect knight, in her mind, and he had a death befitting the perfect knight.

Miyuki wanted to do something, a memorial maybe, or just say a few words, but she really didn't have the time. She did what she thought was best, and gently moved his body so he could be laying on his back, and his sword clasped in his hands, however, she dared not change his face, she could not change it.

She allowed herself a sigh, and with a weak smile on her face, she gave the knight one last bow, and slowly made her way up the many staircases, and out of the dungeon.

Reaching the top she was relieved to find that her captor had absent-mindedly left the door to the dungeon open, how lucky! She tucked the catalyst Minoru had given her into her belt, and stepped out into the sunshine, or what one could call sunshine in the ever-present overcast of dark clouds in Boletaria.

She had hoped the knights words would prove true, that her friends were safe, and they would be reunited soon, but she could not just hope, she needed to play her part as well.

* * *

"Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!" The calls of the bluenette echoed throughout the hall she currently found herself running through, a legion of husks behind her, claws bared and hungers ravaging, they intended to claim their prey, they hadn't fed on fresh souls in quite some time.

She followed the hall to an intersection of hallways, and stopped as she quickly decided on a direction. "No time!" She moaned, randomly picking the one to the right of her and running down it and nearly breaking down the door at the end, collapsing to her knees as she entered the room.

Catching her breath and grabbing at the stitch in her side, she surveyed the room. "Wow." Was all she could manage, wherever she was, it was some type of torture room. She saw iron maidens, stretching racks, whips and chains, all the good stuff. Were a normal person in the same situation, they would probably turn tail and run…but this girl was far from normal.

"Kinky!" She let out with a laugh, running over to the devices and running her hands across one, allowing her mind to deviate from whatever she probably should have been thinking about, and instead slathering it with perversions.

At the sudden sound of shuffling and moaning, the bluenette raised a brow, and turning around, she let out a small 'eep' as she noticed the legion of husks behind her, snarling and growling.

"Guys, come on. We can work this out!" She nervously tried to bargain, but these demons would have none of it as they drew ever closer. Backing up slowly to the wall, she needed a plan, she could cut down a few, but she certainly couldn't take them all.

Her plan came in the form of something she bumped into, and glancing at her feet, she saw a tub of oil, and at that, a sly smile tore itself across her face.

"Burn baby burn!" She yelled with a laugh, grabbing onto the large tub and pushing it over with a heave and a ho, causing the slick liquid to dump onto the ground below, and drain out at the feet of the horde, she noticed there were no torches, so she would have to improvise. She clenched her sword as hard as she could, and scraped it across the floor like a match, causing sparks to fly in every direction, and the oil to erupt into spectacle of flames.

The husks screamed and groaned as they were slowly cooked to a crisp, and one by one they dropped to the ground dead, black, and smoky.

"Just the way I like it…" Konata mumbled to herself with a smile, slowly dropping onto her bottom and rubbing a hand over her sweaty face as she watched the horde continue to burn.

Honestly, she was surprised at how good she was at this. She didn't know much of swordplay, her father had taught her a few tricks, being an ex-knight and all, but that was about it. Oddly enough, she found she was extremely resourceful in tense situations, and could quickly devise a plan with the tools at hand, even if they were simple.

As her heart thrashed in her chest, and the adrenaline pumped through her, she felt good, better then she had in a long time. This was a lifestyle she could definitely see herself getting used to, the action, the danger, the romance, she wanted it all.

She mused that if she didn't have an important mission, she would really be enjoying this. She had always entertained the idea of becoming a knight when she was older, but her father would have none of it, he always seemed very adamant about his hatred towards the knights, he never really divulged further on the subject though, it seemed to be a personal matter.

At the thought of her father, she resigned herself to the idea of fun at that moment; she really did need to concentrate at the task at hand. The small bonfire she had caused was slowly starting to die out, and making her way through the pile of corpses, she noticed a few of them were still slugging around, amazingly enough. Heaving a sigh, she decided not to test her luck and just leave before more of them showed up.

She backtracked her way to the intersection, and took the other path, finding that it led back outdoors. She squinted her eyes at the light, passing her hand over her face in an attempt to shield it.

"Man that's bright…" And at her words, that's when she realized it, she jumped behind the nearest thing she saw, which happened to be a wooden barricade, and covered her head. She heard the smashing and exploding, and turning slowly, she realized a ball of fire the size of a horse had just been flung in her direction.

Peaking like a mouse out of its home, she saw that the attack came from the same scale-ridden drake she had seen soaring in the skies earlier. The beast was roosted upon a hill several hundred meters away from her, perched into its nest, its neck drawn high, looking for the prey that had eluded it.

"No way…! That…was awesome." She had to admit, even if she almost died, that was the coolest 'almost-death' she had ever experienced. The mighty dragon slowly lowered its head, seemingly oblivious, apparently it wasn't that bright.

She didn't really feel like testing the theory however, and slowly crawled her way out of the barricade and into the open, slithering across the ground like a snake, getting as low as she possibly could.

The dragon suddenly breathed, loudly, she could practically smell the rankness of its blood-soaked breath from where she was huddled over, in fact, she did. She coughed once at the smell as it worked its way into her nostrils, and that one cough was all it took. The dragon sucked in wind, and blew fire expertly, this time in a large jet stream, which it slashed across the area like a whip in an attempt to fry its tiny prey.

If she was slithering like a snake before, she was galloping like a horse now. On all fours she made her way to the nearest thing she could hide behind, which luckily for her was the solid stone wall of the mighty Boletarian palace. King Allant was known as an expert military tactician, and he _knew _how to erect structures that could withstand any siege, and even though he was a villain most inhuman, she secretly thanked him for that.

She caught her breath as she peaked around the corner once more, and as she suspected, once again the dragon seemed to have lost interest. She wished it would just make up its mind and either fry her or just leave, but it seemed that wasn't an option.

Just as the thought crossed her mind however, she watched as the dragon flew off, disappearing from her field of vision as it flew over the castle walls. She let off a laugh, and slapped herself on the chest, raising her arms to the air in a small victory cheer.

"That's right! You better run! No stupid dragon is gonna get me! Ha! Haha!" She continued her laugh as she made her way through the only door she could, but as she opened it, she felt her heart shoot up into her throat.

Not only was this the dragons lair, it still contained the dragon, slowly perched in front of the door, almost as if it had expected the young girl to attempt to enter. Staring at the beast for a moment, her laughter slowly subsided.

"M-My, what lovely teeth you have…" She quivered out, only to be met by a thunderous roar that sent her flying against the wall she was currently backed up against, slamming into it like a ragdoll and collapsing onto the ground.

The dragon raised a claw in an attempt to stomp onto its prey like a bug, but that's the advantage of being so small, you're hard to see. And as the bluenette noticed, apparently this dragon had eye problems, as the claw smashed pretty much nowhere near her, and instead right through the wall next to her.

Scrambling to her feet she had no time to make bad eyesight jokes, even if she had currently cooked up about twenty in that moment, and instead decided to just high tail it out of there.

She ran past the dragon as fast as she could, only to be suddenly swept off her feet by a rough and thick object.

As the tweety birds slowly removed themselves from her dizzy head, she saw the object was the dragon's tail; which was currently thrashing back and forth in an attempt to swipe at her.

She couldn't help herself as she stood up and wretched her sword from its sheathe, this was too perfect of a set up. "I've always wanted to do this!" She yelled with a laugh, charging the dragon like a bull and jumping mid-run, landing onto the dragon's tail with a thud and wrapping herself around it like a tree trunk.

"Holy crap!" Was all she could manage to bumpily word out as she was swung back and forth on the beasts appendage, nearly losing her lunch in the process as she felt a slimy liquid making its way up her pipes.

The dragons head twisted and turned as it attempted to spot whatever tiny creature had made itself known on its person, and fire erupted from its mouth like a chimney, smoke and flame bellowing out of the beast as it roared in rage.

Sword still in hand, the bluenette carefully kept one arm wrapped around the tail as she was flung around, and with the other, expertly stabbed the beasts tail with the blade, causing a roar so mighty the very earth shook below them.

One last whip of the tail and suddenly the young girl was sent flying, crashing down hard on the ground and rolling down the first few steps of a nearby staircase.

Her ears rung, loudly, she acquainted it to the sound of complete silence, when one can only hear the ringing of ones own ears, except it was stronger than that. She blinked once or twice, sitting up slowly and grabbing onto her head instinctively. Apart from a few scrapes, amazingly, she was uninjured, and slowly standing up her heart shot up into her throat once more as she saw the dragon staring her down.

"Oh man…" She mumbled, now weaponless and out in the open, she was pretty much finished she figured. The dragon heaved backwards, preparing a special flame for the prey that dared injure it, and shooting forward, a cool blue flame suddenly spat from the dragon's jaws, exploding outwards towards the tiny defenseless girl.

The flames were suddenly halted, a shield the size of a person suddenly slammed in front of the bluenette, and before she had time to ask who what or why, she was yanked to the ground behind it.

The flames curled around it, scorching everything but the direct path behind the shield, instantly turning whatever it touched to ash. As the breath of the dragon finished, the shield was suddenly wretched from the ground back into the arms of its wielder, and staring upwards at her savior, the bluenette almost laughed when she saw a cute, tiny little knight, clad in full armor, her dull pink hair busting out of her helmet, and a triumphant grin on her face.

"Wow…!" She breathed out at the knight, a cocky smile making itself present on the knight's face as she raised her brows at the girl below her.

"No, please, no need for thanks, I was just-"

"You're _so cute!_" The bluenette squealed, shooting up in a flash and shaking the tiny knight, bouncing and giggling like a kid in a candy store.

However cute the knight was, Konata suddenly forgot, as the cute little face she wore before was suddenly replaced by the face of a monster, it was pretty akin to the dragon, actually.

"_I am not cute!_" The knight yelled, stomping on the ground immaturely, completely forgetting the menacing beast behind her. "Now run, citizen! Leave this to a professional!" The knight exclaimed proudly, drawing her sword and heaving her enormous shield upward, quite the feat for such a small girl.

Konata had no intention of arguing with the frightening little girl, and instead just decided to heed her words and run as far away as she could, and glancing back as she did so, she couldn't even believe what she saw, the girl was charging the dragon head on, she figured she must've been insane, or maybe just wanted to die really badly, and in this place, she couldn't blame her.

"Now beast! Get ready to die, in the name of the knights! I, Akira Kogami, will see you fall!" Her battle cry screeched to the heavens, and her spirit was that of ten men, she held no fear as she closed the gap between her and her opponent, she held no fear as she saw the whites of its eyes as she drove her blade into its scaly hide. She held no fear.

The same could not be said for the one she saved, as Konata crashed into the nearest room she could find, she collapsed onto the ground in a heave of sweat and coughing. This place would be the death of her, she mused, this place would tear her apart. This place would chew her up, spit her out, and do it all over again.

This was place was mad, this place was damned; this place was filled with death and dread, violence and chaos, insanity all around. This place was fit for no man, this place was fit for no one but the soul-devouring demons that now inhabited it, this place wasn't fit to spit on.

This place had ended an army, a kingdom, a nation, and this place would surely consume the rest of the world as well, and end them too. Then why, she thought for a moment, did she feel so good? As she saw her reflection in a pool of muddy water below her, she couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah, this place is pretty messed up…" She breathed with a giggle, slowly standing up with several more hard breaths and a cough. "But I can't give up now." She grinned, clenching her fist as tight as she could, she intended to be the exception to the statistic of constant death and dread, she intended to put a stop to this, she intended to save her friends, save her father, she she'd do it all.

The Monumental was right, this place couldn't be allowed to continue to thrive, to expand, it would surely mean the end of everything, and while she thought this task would probably be better suited to someone trained or experienced in this sort of thing, she knew no such people existed anymore.

This land had taken the best of them, and now only people like her were left. People who had lost their way, were they here by chance? No, she thought, things like this were rarely left to chance, and while she didn't really believe in destiny, she believed in purpose, and that all things and people had one.

"And this…is mine."

* * *

**Author's Note: **I really need to learn how to write, my god I hate my writing. I have a really hard time doing action scenes, because I can SEE it in my head, I can word it too, but it never comes out quite like what I pictured in the ol' noggin. Well, as for the chapter, mostly action, some back story for Konata and Miyuki and…character death? Yes, that's right, character death. Based on how the story was progressing, some of you may have seen this coming, but probably not this early, in fact, I'll be surprised if anyone even read past that point, character death is a **BIG NO NO** for most readers, even if the story is set in a dark, violent AU setting. Well, let me tell you something. I think it takes a lot of guts to kill off a character, simply because of how hated it is by readers. Minoru's death really was necessary to the story, in fact, considering the character he was based on in the Demon's Souls verse; he shouldn't have even been alive in the first place. I will assure you this, this story **WILL NOT** end in a slaughter of all the main characters, that isn't my thing. I take character death very, very seriously, and I don't do it often. If character death is necessary for the plot, then it will happen sad to say, but that is such a rare thing, so please, don't worry your pretty little heads too much. By the way, I only realized after writing it that you don't really know how Miyuki got to where she currently is, well, I don't really feel like explaining it, leave it up to the imagination, I say! The Monumental lost the other girls, so, wherever they went is a mystery even to me, so dropping them into a random situation sort of fits, because they were randomly dropped into different places across Boletaria.

**P.S. : REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW. I can't get better if people don't tell me I suck more often! SO DO IT, THANKS! **


	6. The Ivory Prison

**Lucky Souls **

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Ivory Prison **

"Hey, hey girl! You're…you're human, aren't you?"

The burning inside her continued, it seemed omnipresent now. What was once a dull pass every now and again had turned into constant searing pain, and it grew worse every day.

"Girl, please, look, you gotta wake up. If the guards catch us talking, oh, but you know what they do? Those squid-headed monsters…please, please answer me."

Wherever that racket was coming from, she couldn't discern, the man sounded unnerved, a little crazy even, even in her half-conscious state she could still tell this man was a nut. Her blue orbs opened, just a wink, but they were met only with darkness. As she slowly sat herself up, she rubbed her eyes just to make sure she hadn't gone blind suddenly, why was it so dark?

"You came from the outside…but, no, no that's impossible. There is no outside, it's gone, it's all gone. There are only the chains now, the rattling chains all around; you have to stay in the chains, or the squids, the squids…" The mans babbling continued to seem ever further incoherent, he was on his last ropes. The twin-tailed girl fully became aware of her surroundings at last, and it was about she expected, dark, smelly and unpleasant.

Wherever she was, it was in a cell, and wherever _that_ was, she couldn't discern. Slowly stumbling her feet, Kagami made her way over to the bars across her cell to see what she could find out. She was in a prison, this much was clear now, the cells that lined the walls of this place seemed to go on forever, up and down, in all directions nothing but cells. The walls were covered in vines, thick and growing like wildfire across the walls, it gave the prison an almost apocalypse quality.

The place was dark, lit only by the torches that illuminated its halls, and by strange green luminescent lights, being carried in lanterns, by…something, she couldn't tell. The creatures resembled men, from the neck down, but beyond that, their heads were composed of what appeared to be squids, probably what the man in the cell next to hers was rolling on about. She had never seen a squid before, but she had seem them in books, and this definitely isn't how she pictured she'd see one for the first time.

As she heard the whimpering of the man in the cell adjacent to hers, she sighed to herself, she didn't really enjoy conversing with whackos, but she didn't really have an option, she needed to find out what was going on. Crawling on all fours, she pressed herself against the wall, cupping her mouth for silence reasons. She had no idea what the man had been muttering about, but it seemed that silence was necessary.

"Hey, buddy! What's going on? Where are we?" Kagami questioned, not really expecting any sort of coherent answer from the man, but she figured she might as well give it a shot.

A light silence filled the air before she heard the man begin to giggle to himself quietly. The giggling eventually erupted into a raucous laughter that seemed to echo in the halls of the dreary prison.

"You mean you didn't come here on purpose? What a shame…great vacation spot, doesn't matter anyway. You'll either be taken by the squids, or you'll rot like the rest of us!" The man angrily screamed, and as he did so, Kagami heard several clangs of objects he was kicking and tossing around in his rage.

"Hey, are you stupid! Weren't you the one who said we needed to keep it down?" Kagami angrily hushed as much as she could, instinctively covering her ears at the high-pitched piggy squeals of the prisoner.

"What does it matter! Die today, tomorrow, the next day! It's all the same, and I've had it!" The man's insane screaming could only be matched in the creepiness factor by his cackling laughter, which seemed almost inhuman. Just how long had this man endured the horrors of this place? Then again, the sane could join the husks in a matter of minutes in Boletaria, it was actually quite the miracle this man was still kicking around, let alone able to speak or think.

That was when she heard it, the bells. They were faint at first, just an echo in the distance, but they gradually grew ever louder, until it seemed as though all else was drowned out by their quiet jingle. As the bells grew closer, Kagami beheld her first look of what she would call 'the warden's' of this prison, and she wasn't too far off. They were just as grotesque up close as they were far away, and she couldn't help but gag as one of the slimy things slithered past her cell in a trance.

She knew what was coming, she didn't want to watch, she didn't even want to listen. She bundled herself into the corner in a heap of quiet whimpers, her hands clasped over her ears to silence whatever may be happening, and her eyes bolted shut.

What followed next she couldn't describe, she heard muffled screams, followed by the jingle of the squid-heads bell and then…silence. She dared not open her eyes to check, or un-hand her ears to listen, she dared not. She would heed the man's last words to her; she would need silence in this place.

Gently opening herself to the world around her once more, she realized the demons were gone, for now. Wherever they had gone, she had no real interest in; she was just worried about where she was going to go. Slowly shuffling to her feet, she made her way to the bars of her cell, it was open, this much was clear. There wasn't even a discernible lock keeping her within the claustrophobic environment.

She assumed that was actually the point, and that the only thing keeping one in their cell was themselves, they were the lock, and they were much safer within than out. Slowly and silently, she pushed the door to her cell open just a crack, peaking her head out of it just an inch or two, just enough to get a feeling for her surroundings.

The halls were much thinner than she had anticipated, barely enough walking room. They seemed to stretch forever up the floors ascending and descending in all directions. Who had built this place she wondered, the architect didn't even seem to know what they were doing, it seemed as if they just placed random staircases, rooms, hallways and the like wherever they pleased.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the faint green glow of the bell, and she knew what it would be held by. The creature seemed to pay her no mind; in fact, it seemed to be looking in her direction, but not even caring.

Taking a step or two out of her cell, she ground a few gears in her head, and decided to put the man's words to heart. Reaching to the ground she picked up the smallest rock of the bunch at her feet, and hurled into the deep chasm of the prison.

As the rock clanked and clunked against whatever it had hit, she saw the man's advice had come in handy after all. The squid-headed warden immediately turned in the direction of the noise and slowly began to shuffle to whatever had disturbed it. They were blind, and as long as they couldn't hear you, you were safe, this much she could tell.

What of the man? If this was the case, why didn't he escape long ago? Surely in the state of mind he was in he had been here for quite awhile, and thus would know the little details of the beasts that lurked its halls, seeing as he had somehow survived here. It hurt her to even think it, but maybe she figured the poor creature just wanted to die, in this place, she couldn't blame anyone if they had that line of thinking.

As she silently made her way to the cell next to hers, she nearly heaved at the sight. Whatever that demon had done to him, there was nothing left to even discern that it had once been a human, it looked more like a soup than anything else, and she couldn't stand to even imagine what fate had befallen him.

As she leaned against the wall next to his cell, Kagami allowed herself a moment of thought. Whatever had happened when they were attacked by that elephant beast, she couldn't recall. She remembered burning, constant burning throughout her entire body, setting her ablaze, heightening her sense to new levels she never thought possible.

She felt a soft lump form in her throat as she probed herself deeper for information, the immediate thought to enter her mind, what of her friends? Wherever they were, if they even still lived, they certainly weren't here. Even though she was past blaming Konata for all of this, she really still had a hard time letting it go.

Konata was her friend, her best friend; she would do anything for the girl she cared for so deeply. When the bluenette had come to her that night, the night her father had vanished, she had never seen her so serious, so sure of something, she didn't just suspect foul play, she outright knew what had happened. At first, Kagami was right to be skeptical, but she couldn't irk the feeling in the pit of her gut, that ill wind in the air, Sojiro's disappearance was just the beginning of it.

Her friend wasn't the only thing on her mind, however. The burning would never let her forget, it would never give in, it was a part of her now, whether she liked it or not. No matter how hard she cried, complained, or cursed, she couldn't blame her friend for what had happened to her, what had happened all of them.

Slowly reaching to her ankle, her hand glided over it gently, it stung to the touch, but it also served to alleviate the pain somewhat, seeing as her hand was cool at that moment. How long until the inevitable? She didn't know, not even the knights could tell her, so she just decided to chalk it up to destiny that she was still kicking around, and that she had some greater purpose in all of this.

However, when faced with impending doom at such a young age, the mind wanders to all the 'what ifs'. What could have happened if you were to just live a while longer, all the experiences one might've had, the friendships, the loves, and it hurts knowing you can never do all the things you wanted to, life was just too short, too fragile. She mused that if she were to survive all of this and return home, even if the chances were low, she'd do everything she wanted to do with the little time she had left, she'd do it all.

At the thought of doing _everything _she wanted, Kagami couldn't help but blush a little, even when she was alone with her thoughts, that little blue devil couldn't leave her alone.

The jingle of a bell broke her train of thought, and she nearly cried out in terror, only to be relieved when she saw the beast still stumbling a ways away from her, unaware of her presence. The thoughtful tsundere didn't exactly decide to test her luck with the beast's perception however, and decided to high-tail it out of there while she still had the chance.

The prison sure had gone through some rough times, she noted as she surveyed the place. She was amazed prisoners were still even being kept here, there were certainly no guards, well, none of the _human_ variety, anyway. And the prisoners, they were even worse.

As she passed cell after cell, she saw less and less life. What few cells did still contain life would be an understatement of the word 'life'. The prisoners within were malnourished in every sense of the word, a sheet of skin on a skeleton, disheveled and dirty. And any others who weren't holding on by a string had joined the legions of the Dreglings long ago, and had become the same mindless, soulless husks that roamed the lands of Boletaria in search of souls.

Casually noting the area in an extremely dangerous place isn't really the best idea, and the lilac-haired girl only realized this a second too late as a decrepit hand suddenly thrust out from the bars of one of the cells and grabbed onto her pigtail, yanking it to and fro, and causing the girl to screech like a tiny dog.

She couldn't help but cover her mouth, quiet, she had to be quiet! The deed was done, it was too late for silence, she heard the ping pang of a bell behind her. She turned to face the squid-headed demon, only to realize she didn't have her sword anymore.

"Great time to lose it…" Kagami mumbled to herself as she scanned the area for a weapon, and to her surprise, there actually were weapons on the ground. "Huh, lucky." She smirked to herself as she scooped up a sword, holding the blade to her face and calming herself.

Kagami wasn't really the warrior type, she always pictured herself in a more scholarly profession, passing on knowledge to others, but it wasn't skill that pushed this girl to fight without fear.

The warden was slowly shuffling towards her, almost as if it had lost interest, only for its speed to suddenly shift into overdrive as it centered on the escapee.

Where the sudden burst of speed came from, she wasn't sure, but she had to try something, she didn't want to end up like her prison-mate. She would need to be careful with this opponent, its arms were long and gangly, at least twice the reach of her own, its legs as well, meaning it could cover distance much faster.

The beast let out a squeal almost reminiscent of a swine as it closed the gap, but Kagami misinterpreted its movements, the demon suddenly stopped several feet away from her and raised its bell to the air.

Without warning a large shockwave suddenly exploded from the tiny instrument, not only blowing the tsundere back several feet flat on her face, but completely obliterating anything near it.

Grumbling and groaning as she slowly crawled to her feet, once again she underestimated its speed, the explosion from the bell was followed up swiftly by another, which not only sent her flying back into a cell, but sent her into a cell full of Dreglings.

"Are you kidding me?" She cursed her luck as she wasted no time in jumping to her feet. The husks were all looking in her direction, ready to pounce, the warden still at her front.

They say the best laid plans often go astray, and she didn't really have the time to think of any. Sitting back and dying certainly was an option, but a quick flash of 'things she wanted to do' chirped through her mind, and she knew that wasn't the option she wanted.

At first she wanted to keep her distance from the squid-headed monster because of its bell, there seemed to be no other option, but that was its weakness. Without that bell, what was the beast? Nothing but an average demon, not even that, a man who was just a few feet taller than normal, and also happened to have a squid for a head.

She needed to get close, the bell certainly was dangerous, but range wasn't really an option for her, it was times like this she wished she had joined Miyuki when her friend had trained to be a mage.

Charging like a bull was her option, it was simple, and she went for it. As the husks attempted to pull her into their cell and drag her into the darkness, she wretched as much as it took, knocking the Dreglings every which way as she burst out of the cell, directly towards the warden.

The scene played out in slow motion, the demon raised it's bell, ready for another strike, but she wouldn't fall for that trick a third time.

Outstretching her arm as much as possible, and by extension, her sword, she swung downwards with all of her might, cleaning lobbing off the beasts arm that held the instrument.

As for the coup de grace, she drove the tip of her blade directly into the skillet of the beast, right into its squid maw, and exploding out the back of its head, sending whatever ooze it called blood to splatter in every direction.

As the warden tumbled dead to the ground, she groaned as she heard her second problem rearing its ugly head in once more. The husks were numerous, but that was their only strength, she just needed something to take them all out at once.

Her eyes wandered to the dismembered appendage of the warden, still clutching its bell harshly. Could she use it? Perhaps it was a demon only thing, she had heard stories that only demons could wield the weapons they wrought, a human couldn't handle the artifacts.

Then again, at the thought of being entirely human herself now, she really did wonder. She scooped the bell up in her hands, jingling it back and forth and listening to its light rhythm, it seemed to connect with her, resonate with her, it didn't disagree to the partnership at least.

She focused on the group of shambling former humans before her, and lashed the bell violently at them, and it worked just as she had hoped. The horde was literally blown apart, mangled remains being flung every which way she could imagine, but that only cleared a path for her with which to escape.

Kagami charged through the monsters as the survivors stumbled to recover from the blow, running clear into a different room, which seemed to be filled with staircases leading to the many levels of this demented prison.

There was no real time to pick a direction, so she opted for down, and just rolled with it. She descended the many staircases, her heart still thrashing in her chest from the encounter with the demons, escaping this place would be no easy task, and definitely not alone.

* * *

"One methane molecule." The voice of a prisoner humming in the darkness, to herself, not really anyone in particular. "Two oxygen molecules." Her hands shivered gently as she placed them to the ground below her, which was covered with drawings of seals and magic workings.

The scribbles of equations lined the walls, and the corner was piled with musty old writings of long forgotten authors, her cell was like any other, but it had something the others did not, her as the prisoner within.

"One carbon dioxide molecule." She mumbled to herself in a trance, the gentle shivering was no more, and her entire body was now slowly erupting into a violent shake. "Two water molecules." With the final touch to her seal, her eyes snapped open, nearly knocking off her large glasses in the process.

What was before her no normal person could describe or understand, but she understood it perfectly. It appeared to be a bubble of sorts, floating several feet off the ground, bathed in a dull light, but on the inside it was filled with water, swirling to and fro.

"Perfect!" She giggled to herself, readjusting her spectacles as she slumped backwards in a cold sweat. Magic strained the soul, mind and body, but even more so if the magic in question was harnessed by the power of demons souls.

Crawling over to her pile of books, she pushed through the texts for the one she sought, but stopped on one of note near the bottom of the pile. She slowly lifted it into her hands, cradling it as if it was dear to her. The cover read: 'The Soul Arts' and the author, as ashamed as she was to admit it, was someone she knew quite well, Hiyori Tamura.

She grumbled as she tossed the book to some aimless corner of her cell, she didn't need to be reminded of her sins. "Why did I even write that blasted book anyway…why did I ever…AGH!" She shook the menacing thoughts away, she couldn't be deterred now, she was on her way to a major breakthrough, and had no time for wallowing in self pity, she reserved that for mornings.

As she snatched a random book into her hands, she began writing in it furiously; there might have even been smoke coming from that writing utensil. When this woman had an idea, she needed to get it down on paper, and _fast_. Her worst fear was losing an idea when it came to her, and on the off chance it did, saying she was 'depressed' would definitely be an understatement.

Hearing the usual jingle of the many bells of the many wardens, she grumbled. Being trapped here for so long, one would think she'd be used to it by now, but this was not the case, each time she heard it, it was nothing but a reminder to her that after all these years, she still hadn't found a way to escape her cell.

She had talked to other prisoners in her time here, and existed as a prisoner of this damned place before everything was consumed by the fog, so she knew how the cells normally worked. The prison was a prison of the self. There were no locks on the cell doors, and if one wanted, they could technically leave at any time.

The only things keeping the prisoners within their cells were themselves, but that was the whole point of the prison. The prison was designed to make one _want _to be forgiven for their sins, to make them repent for what they had done, and while the cells held no locks, many prisoners would find they would not open.

If one was truly sorry for what they had done, if one really wished to live life anew after having their pasts cleansed, they would find the door open for them, and the guards of the prison would allow them to leave at their leisure, knowing they had done their time.

That was the whole problem for this young mage Hiyori. She admitted she was guilty for what she had done; she lowered herself to the floor like a dog in front of her king, begging for the forgiveness she knew she did not deserve. The king was her dear friend, and she would have done anything for his majesty, but when the castle guard stormed her shack of a home that day, accusing her of aiding in the destruction of the kingdom of Boletaria, she did not try to deny what she had done, she felt awful for it.

"Then why…?" She whispered to herself, slowly stopping her feverish writings as she heaved a sigh. "Why can't I leave?" She truly did feel terrible for what she had done, but did she regret it? Were she given a second chance, would she do it differently? That is what puzzled her so, because even after years in this damp and dark prison, she still could not leave.

Once again her train of thought was ruined by the bells. "Always with the damn bells…" She grumbled, but at the second sound of a bell, she noticed it wasn't followed by the usual pig-like squeal of the squid-headed wardens that roamed the halls.

She crawled her way to her cell bars, peaking outwards, and what she saw she couldn't even believe. It was a young girl, probably around the same age as her, bell in hand, using it to fight against the demons of this place, and with an odd grace. That wasn't what irked her though; it was a survivor, and a sane one at that! What luck!

"Hey! Hey you!" She called from her cell, noticing her yell had alerted the lilac-haired girl several floors below her, but pretty much every warden in the area as well. "Oh no…ah, sorry!" She nervously apologized, watching the squid-heads slowly making their way to the girl below her.

"Wow, thanks stranger!" She yelled sarcastically, drawing her sword as one of the wardens shook its bell in a rage, hoping to blow the girl to pieces like it had done so many others.

"I…er, look! Make your way over here! They can't kill what they can't hear!" At her suggestion, the young mage only realized a second too late that actually saying so, _loudly_, completely defeated the purpose anyway, and she could almost hear the warrior's groan below her at the absent-mindedness.

She needed to assist the strange twin-tailed girl, as skilled as she seemed, she wouldn't survive against this many opponents. However, being bound to her cell wasn't doing in her any favors, and as much as she hated to do it, she would need to waste a months work. She eyed the floating sphere of water behind her, and with a sigh, she plopped to the ground and centered herself.

This sphere may have been her ticket out of here, and not only did it take her almost a year to scrounge up the knowledge and ingredients to create such a thing, it took over a month of endless preparation, and she felt nothing but dismay as she closed her eyes, ready to give up her freedom once more to save this girl.

It took only a second, and as her eyes flashed open, the sphere before here was gone as quick as it had come, she slumped backwards in a groan. "All that work…"

* * *

"Ugh, come on…!" She couldn't outrun them, it just didn't seem possible. Wherever they got this inhuman speed from she didn't know, but didn't have the time to question it either. She was coming in on a dead end, and they would have her right where they wanted.

She stopped at the end of the hall, surveyed her options, which were pretty simple. Stand and die, or jump off the railing and die, good options she mused. Before she had the chance to pick either, a sphere suddenly made its presence known in front of her, and before she could question _that_ either, it zoomed at high speeds towards the wardens.

As the ball touched the beasts, they seemed to be sucked into the globe like a tornado, and before she knew it, all of her tormentors were trapped in the sphere. Its job done, the ball slowly floated to the air, filled with the souls of demons and husks alike, and exploded on queue, causing a light mist of water to cover the area in the aftermath.

"What the…?" Pondering what exactly had just happened would have to wait, she heard yelling, rather obnoxious yelling as she noticed, coming from the same prisoner who had nearly gotten her killed but moments ago. If anything, this girl might have information, something that might help her escape or survive this place.

* * *

"All of that work, gone! Gone! Gone! Gone! Ah, who even cares…" The humble mage Hiyori spoke to herself, she couldn't even believe she had wasted all that time working on the damned thing, she didn't even know fully if it would work, in fact, she knew the odds were low that it even would.

She didn't even understand why she saved the strange warrior girl, she didn't know her, she didn't even care. She had seen so many people come and go, live and die, what did one more matter to her? And maybe that was it, she considered for a moment, maybe she was just tired of all the death. Considering what she had done, what foul project she had assisted in, she had enough blood on her hands, enough to fill an entire country.

"Hey." A voice suddenly sounded, breaking the girl out of her trance and alerting her to its speaker, which unsurprisingly, was the girl she had just rescued.

"Oh! Uh…greetings!" The mage fumbled out, rubbing her head bashfully as she adjusted to the feeling of speaking to another human being again. She couldn't even recall how long it had been, was it a year? Two? Five? She could scarcely remember, it had been long enough for her to forget at any rate.

"Thanks…for your help, I mean. As unorthodox as it was, I probably wouldn't have survived if you didn't intervene. So, thanks again." A small smile curved itself onto the twin-tailed warrior's face as she extended her hand through the bars of the cage.

The mage could only stare at the girl's gentle hand, extended to her. It wasn't only the simple gesture of affection that struck her, it was also envy, the warrior could pass through the bars so easily. She reciprocated the handshake with a smile, which slowly faded as she watched the girl's hands leave the confines of the cage, how she wished to do so as well.

"The name is Kagami Hiiragi." The twin-tailed warrior greeted, and as the mage noticed, she was still obviously cautious, her hand hadn't left her blade since the two had began the conversation.

"Hiiragi-San, good to meet you. I'm Hiyori Tamura. What brings you to this foul place? Surely you didn't come here by choice…?" The mage probed gently, adjusting her glasses on queue with the question in wonderment.

"Ah, no, not exactly anyway. I was transported here somehow…but that's what I don't know, _how._" The tsundere began to explain, her free hand rubbing the bridge of her nose with a dark scowl. "I was traveling with my companions, we sought the palace of Boletaria, we were searching for someone." At the mention of King Allant's castle, the tsundere couldn't help but notice the slight change of facial expression on the young mage. "You…know what I speak of?" Kagami asked hesitantly, her hand gripping her sword ever tighter, she wouldn't hesitate to cut the mage down if she presented herself as a threat.

Hiyori weighed her options carefully before proceeding to answer. The knowledge she held of Boletaria, its king, and what had befallen it was more than anyone should know, or should allow others to know. The knowledge she held could save or damn an entire kingdom, just as it had Boletaria. She didn't know this girl, so she could not trust her with information of such magnitude, and decided to just answer how she best saw fit.

"Yes…I know of the kingdom, terrible things have befallen it. The fog, the demons, the destruction. I know what its king has done, and I know it must be stopped." The mage answered as seriously as possible, trying to not outright reveal the information to this stranger, but try and make the warrior reveal her nature, be it good intentions or wicked ones.

Honestly, Kagami wasn't in the mood for mind games, or leads-ons, she just wanted straight information. This mage was not only suspicious because she was a survivor of this place, but because she was a mage period. Kagami had been taught that mages could never be trusted, that they were harbingers of death and destruction. They were willing hosts for demons and their power, and this mage was likely no different.

But at her pit, Kagami couldn't help but sympathize. One of her best friends was a mage, taught in the ways of magical arts at a young age, and while Kagami did trust her pink-haired friend, she was always cautious around her, just in case. Her parents had always warned her of mages, and how they would use any trickery to get what they desired.

And while Miyuki was her dear friend since childhood, this mage, Hiyori, she was certainly no friend of hers. She wanted to trust her, she figured the young girl wouldn't have saved her if she didn't have a good heart, but she simply could not irk the feeling of distrust when around a mage, she had seen the ill effects of what magic can truly do.

The two girls locked eyes for a moment, and the tsundere didn't hesitate, she had to know for sure. She tore her blade from its sheath, thrust it through the bars and placed it at the bespectacled girl's throat, pressing into the soft flesh gently.

"Hey, hey, whoa! Calm down! What do you think you're doing!" Hiyori called out as she shook her hands back and forth. She really didn't want conflict, she was a peaceful girl, she had never taken a human life willingly, and she didn't intend to start any time soon. At the back of her mind, she knew she could probably end the warrior girl before the blade pierced her throat, but she bore no ill will, and seeing as she was still alive, she figured the twin-tailed girl might not either.

"I don't trust you, mage. I do thank you for your help, but I would be doing the world a favor if I just cut you down now, give me a reason not to." The glare in the lilac-haired girl's eyes could not be matched, it was sharp as any hawk, but there was something else the young mage noticed.

The changes in her appearance were subtle, one would have to be really looking to see them, but to a mage with a sharp eye, they were clear as day. The slight curve of the girls nails, not-quite claws, but definitely filed to a point. Her bared teeth showing, slightly sharp and jagged. What was most noticeable was her eyes, the deep blue orbs held a dull yellow in the center, overlapping colors mixing into a strange human-demon mix. She wondered how long ago it happened to this poor creature, barely a woman, and yet afflicted with such a curse, her heart wept for the warrior.

"…I can help you. I know what ails you." The mage whispered, it was barely audible, but she noticed the slight shift in the warrior's demeanor, she was intrigued, even if she struggled to not show it. "What awaits you need not be the end, Hiiragi-San. I can help you…" The mage urged once more, hoping to get through to the girl.

Kagami knew what she spoke of, even if she dared not speak of it herself. The knights told her there was no help, there was no cure, this was just a mages trick was her first thought. As she stood silently with her blade to the girl's throat, she really considered it for a moment, what if she was telling the truth? The possibility of that was low, so low it probably didn't even qualify, but it was still a chance. What awaited her was a fate worse than death, and if there was a way to stop the process, even delay it, she would try anything.

She slowly took the blade away from the girl's throat, sliding it back into her sheath, but never losing eye contact her. Grabbing a hold of the bars, Kagami leaned in as much as she could, trying not to lose her intimidating stance as she prepared to probe the mage for answers.

"…Speak."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Another experimental chapter, but I ended up not being able to resist halfway through. Originally, the chapter was going to be about solitude, and being alone with ones thoughts. The first draft didn't have any dialogue whatsoever, and was going to be a chapter filled with nothing but Kagami alone with her thoughts, but this turned out to be pretty difficult. Having an entire chapter with no dialogue just irked me, so I ended up abandoning the idea. I know the general direction the story is going in at the moment, but I don't really have an idea how the girls will get back together again. Once again, originally, they weren't even supposed to split up in the first place, but plans change I guess. Stay tune for next chapter where I fail epically whilst attempting to write a Tsukasa chapter. Normally, I dread writing anything with Tsukasa, because she's so hard to write, it's hard to get into her mind. You either make her too stupid, too smart, or just not Tsukasa, so it'll be an interesting learning experience nonetheless.

**P.S. : Guys, it's really awesome when I see how many people actually read my story each time I put a new chapter out, but at the same time, it's pretty discouraging to see no new reviews popping up, dig? I personally think I'm a pretty piss-poor writer, and there are tons of great writers/reviewers on this site, so I'd really appreciate it if I could have some reviews! Hell, I would appreciate it if someone made a review saying "Your story sucks." Because at least I would know that not everyone is enjoying it. **

**P.P.S. : REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW. **


	7. The Mine

**Lucky Souls **

* * *

**Chapter 7: The Mine **

"Aye, but the mine isn't any place for a young'n like yourself to be wanderin'. Dark things be lurkin' in the shadows…" The filthy man explained to the tender youth before him, scraggly beard upon his face and not a tooth in his crooked smile.

Tsukasa let her gaze drift to the tunnel before them, it was mountain-sized, and for good reason, considering it led directly into one. Destroyed mine carts and equipment scattered across the ground, as if they were dropped while in the middle of arduous work, simply abandoned. Tsukasa hadn't been in Boletaria long, a day at the most, if that. She remembered journeying with her friends, a terrifying beast, and then darkness, ever-present and looming.

She had woken up at the foot of the mine, brought back to the waking world by a foul looking fellow, but he seemed to have a good heart. He had asked her how she found herself in such a terrible place, and in an even worse predicament, separated from her comrades, weaponless, and witless. Her only answer was to weep, she felt hopeless, but the man did not blame her, this girl was no older than his own daughter before she was lost to the demons, perhaps that is why he felt pity for her.

Tsukasa was presented with two options for proceeding, she could either join the man on his trek back to civilization, to the south, or she could go north, which would lead to the palace of Boletaria, her destination. The area was mountainous and not easily trekked, especially alone, and the journey both ways would be no doubt filled with peril. Tsukasa was no champion, and the demons would eat her alive in no time if she faced them by herself, the long journey to the palace would surely end her.

She just wanted to go home; she just wanted to give up. While the idea of finding her friends and sister did indeed rot her mind, she still considered going home the more attractive option. This is why it confused her even more, when with dried tears staining her pink cheeks, she decided upon entering the mine, finding her way through its hellish mazes, and getting to King Allant's keep to the north.

"I know…but, I have to." Was the only answer she could give to the man, and while he seemed very adamant against the idea; he knew he could do nothing to sway the youth's mind. With a weary sigh, he thought at least he could assist her on her quest, and gave the weaponless and witless girl a few provisions she might need. A sword, some food, and a cloak were all he could offer, he had a family of his own to feed, but the humble girl felt bad for even accepting these trivialities, so he knew attempting to give more would be shot down with a 'no' anyway.

Tsukasa said her goodbyes to the strange treasure hunter, and sent him on his way, gazing for a moment as he made his way down the steep slopes of the mountain and out of sight. She heaved a sigh of her own as she turned back to the dark entrance of the mine. The man had told her its story, that King Allant requested the mountains be swept for dire resources, but what they unearthed was anything but.

The deeper they dug into the great mountains of Stonefang, the stranger the experience seemed to get. What was supposed to be a simple excavation operation ended up being a slaughter, not by beasts or demons, but by the hands of men. The men had been overcome by insatiable greed, and in an effort to claim their own spoils, they turned on one another. What puzzled the great King Allant so however, was not that they were consumed by greed, but why they were consumed in the first place. Whatever they had uncovered in those dark tunnels, it had been enough to betray an entire nation and murder ones close friends and family, whatever they had found, it was no mere chest of gold.

Oddly enough, she was also told that the visitors to its depths actually _increased _after Boletaria was consumed by the fog, by fool-hearty treasure hunters and warriors alike, most of whom either returned empty handed, or not at all.

Honestly, the bow-haired girl thought the stories did nothing to wet her interest in the place, but actually turn her off to the idea of even glancing in its direction. At the thought of her own cowardice, she attempted to brace herself for danger, she couldn't afford to be afraid in these life or death situations, or she would be cut down like all the rest.

As she made her way to the dark entrance, her eyes gazed upon an unlit torch, which with a few scrapes against a pile of dry pitch she promptly lit. The dim torch did almost nothing to illuminate the blackness presented before her, and she was relieved when she saw that the lines of the tunnels ahead were strangely, well lit by torches and fires.

Her relief was stamped out as she heard the groan of a beast in the unknown, but what struck her most, was that it came from above. The quivering girl let out an 'eep' on queue as she noticed two gangly looking men above her, pushing against a boulder the size of a carriage.

Eyes so wide they nearly split from her skull, the young girl dropped her torch with a scream and ran head long into the mine, covering her head shamelessly as she plunged into the darkness. She didn't see it, but she sure heard the boulder as it fell gracelessly from its perch, smashing onto the ground with a loud thud behind her, completely blocking the entrance she had hoped she would be able to run out of should danger arise.

Fumbling in the darkness, she whimpered as she crawled herself away from the dust and wreckage of the boulder, which had obliterated several mine carts in its fall, and caused the entrance of the mine to do so as well.

As she slunk herself against the wall, her heart strings weren't just tugging at her, they were tearing away at her. She felt a warm tear slide down her cheek as she bundled herself against the cold stone wall. She just wanted her sister, to hug and hang onto her in these dark times, she just wanted anyone. She could hardly stand being alone in her own house, and here she was in the middle of the most dangerous place on their small blue Earth, alone, inexperienced and afraid.

Quick flashes of her fear spread through her mind, memories of how she had almost been the death of all of her friends, just because she couldn't get it together. She couldn't help it! Could they blame her? What normal person wouldn't be afraid at the horrors of this place? She felt so lowly compared to her friends, so out of touch with whatever they experienced as they cut down their opponents, as they lived their lives without fear, or at least not showing it.

Tsukasa was not a violent girl, she was not brave, she was not intelligent, she wasn't competent, she wasn't like her friends, no matter how desperately she wished to be. Her bright yellow bow sagged along with her face, which could only be described in one word, miserable.

While she wished for the things that would never be realities in her pitiful existence, her fists clenched in frustration upon the muddy floors. Her tears came to a grinding halt as she sat there alone in the darkness, pondering a plethora of things.

She couldn't change who she was, that just wasn't possible, but she could sure try. She thought of her friends, just as alone and afraid as her in this dreary land, and that is what set her off.

Slowly standing to her feet, she glanced around the corner and into the mine beyond, illuminated by torches and filled with destroyed, musky equipment. She gagged as she spotted the bodies, everywhere, probably belonging to the miners. She inhaled just about as largely as she could, and spun the corner as if she was attached to it, messily probing her hand around her belt searching for her blade, eventually finding it on the fourth try, and tearing it from the sheathe.

She didn't know what those husk-like creatures were that attempted to crush her on the way in, but something in her gut told her there was probably more of them, there always was. She took several steps into the main room, shaking like a leaf on a tree, her sword constantly jiggling in her hands like gelatin as she pointed it at every shadow that dared dance with fire.

The bow-haired girl couldn't help but whimper like a small pup as she heard a growling in the darkness. She nearly threw herself behind a nearby mine-cart, tipped over with its luggage showering the ground below. Slowly peaking over it, she saw a gangly looking thing, somewhat reminiscent of a Dregling slowly making its way out of a nearby door.

Like a Dregling, its skin was brown and rotten, barely hanging on the bones of the poor soul, but unlike a Dregling, this beast was tall, at least eight feet she guessed. Its head and gut were bulbous with fat, offset by its incredibly skinny arms and legs. Its eyes were golden yellow, and glowed like jewels upon its face, and slung over its shoulder was a pick ax.

She simply watched, still shaking with fear, as the beast slowly lumbered over to a random wall and began swinging away at it, chipping for the treasure that would never be revealed.

"A miner…" She whispered to herself, it was a miner, but that was the keyword, _was. _Whatever had happened to this man, he was no longer himself, just a shell, and a demon like all the rest.

She didn't want to fight the poor soul, then she would have to end up killing him, and she certainly didn't want that. She felt sorry for the shell as it mindlessly hacked away; continuing its work even after the soul had long left it, after it had become a demon. She knew she would eventually have to fight demons, to probably even kill them if she wished to survive, but she had no intentions of doing this now.

Slowly and quietly sheathing her sword, she lowered herself as low to the ground as she could go. Slithering like a worm upon the wet and dreary ground, she eyed the door the miner had exited from, and made her way over to it. Oddly enough, it had worked, and the miner continued to obliviously do his job as she entered the door as silently as possible.

Gently sighing, she actually let off a tiny grin, she had done good, maybe this was her expertise she thought for a moment. She was no good at direct combat, she lost her wits in a moment when her blade met her opponents, she had no spine. But when her opponents back was turned, when they didn't even have fighting on the mind, she found it much easier to decide on what route to take, whether it be combat or a hasty retreat.

Fumbling to her feet, she found that the door led to somewhat of a bunking area. Along the walls were lined the many beds of the many miners who no doubt worked here, she guessed that these little oasis' were probably positioned everywhere throughout the massive mine so workers could find food, bed and company at any time.

She couldn't help but choke as she saw pictures of families, friends, and homes adorning the many dressers. She wondered what the families must have gone through, not knowing the fate of their husbands and fathers when they never returned. The filthy man had explained that whatever occurred in the mine was completely covered up and wiped from the records, and no explanation was ever offered to the families of the deceased, just that the miners had gone missing.

She wondered if she would join the list of the missing, if she would just be another statistic, but cleaned her mind of such thoughts. She was down enough as it is; she didn't need to be even more afraid.

A creek behind her nearly caused her to crash into a nearby table in surprise, and instinctively, she threw herself underneath a nearby bunk bed. She shakily surveyed the area, and her petite frame went icy when she saw a bulky shadow cast from the torches, looming in the archway of the oasis door.

It was that beast, that husk of a miner. He slowly stumbled into view, his large flat-footed feet stomping on the ground as he made his way into the room. To still her breathing, the bow-haired girl gently covered her mouth, the exasperated breaths escaping it becoming harder by the second.

The smell was indescribable; it was the smell of age, mixed in with whatever aromas made their homes in this dark and dreary mine. It smelled of rotting flesh, salty almost, and it just reminded her of death, she did everything in her power not to gag.

She couldn't make a sound, not even the slightest breath could be exhaled, it would immediately allow her presence to be known. The miner didn't seem to notice her, and instead just made its way across the room slowly but surely, until it came upon a chest on the ground.

She carefully eyed it as it dug through the box, eventually coming upon a small grindstone, probably with which to sharpen its ax. It seemed these husks still contained some form of meager intelligence, or perhaps it was simply following what it remembered, what it had considered normal before the fog set in.

The beast continued its trance, but as she noticed, it stopped directly before the bed she was conveniently hidden underneath. She couldn't be so unlucky that she had made a noise, or that the beast simply wished to check underneath that _specific _area for intruders.

She waited silently, hand clasped over her soft lips like a lock, waited for anything to happen, but nothing did.

The miner simply stood for a moment before it turned to the door, probably leaving to return to its mundane and endless task of digging. Tsukasa waited a minute before even moving, and then finally allowed herself a gentle sigh, slowly attempting to crawl out from under the bed.

Before she could do anything, a hefty, rotten foot suddenly stomped down onto her outstretched arm, and saying that the bow-haired girl screamed at the top of her lungs would be an understatement.

Her eyes nearly tore themselves upwards, and she only screamed louder as she saw the miner looking down at her with its rusted jewel eyes.

The miner let out a dull groan as it slowly raised its pick ax to the air, ready to crush it down upon the feeble prey at its feet, but Tsukasa would have none of it. She wretched her hand from underneath the beasts foot and rolled out from under the bed, watching in horror at the delayed reaction of the miner as it drove it's ax into it, breaking the fragile piece of furniture into a thousand pieces.

Her vision blurred for a moment, and her heart was beating so fast she struggled to not pass out on the spot. She shakily pulled her sword from its sheath, rising to the beasts gaze as it slowly turned around.

It took a few steps towards the frightened girl, and that was all it took for her wit to dry up completely. Tsukasa dropped her sword on the spot and turned tail, nearly breaking the door of the oasis down in the process as she scrambled to get away, as far away as she could, anywhere that didn't have that monster.

To her horror, she found the area she had been in before was now _full _of miners, each one more rotted and decrepit than the last, slowly hacking away at the stone walls before them.

Where was she safe? In Boletaria, nowhere, and that was exactly her issue. She heard slow pitters of feet against wet ground behind her, and she slowly turned to face the miner.

He swung his ax once more, this time too quickly for her to respond, and screaming and flailing her arms, oddly enough worked. In her panic she caused herself to trip over a rock conveniently placed behind her, and she fell upon the ground hard, having a panic attack of the worst kind as the beast stood over her.

She shut her eyes in defeat, what point was there? She didn't have it in her to fight a demon, she couldn't even kill bugs that made their presence known in her room, and she always wanted to find a peaceful resolution to any situation. In Boletaria, the charity of peace seemed all but absent, and one couldn't talk their way out of anything, they couldn't peacefully resolve any conflict, violence seemed to be the only answer.

Her eyes creaked open; watching as the miner slowly raised his ax to the air, ready to kill her just as he had his dear friends when he was human. She didn't want to die; she didn't want to, she couldn't die.

Her body took over for her, survival instinct kicking in as she rolled out of the way as fast as she could, watching as the pick ax slammed hard into the ground, sending up dust and dirt in the process.

She was afraid, more so than she ever remembered, but she could not be, not in Boletaria. She had to toughen up, whether she liked it or not, or she would die here and now, before her journey had even begun. Her friends had resigned long ago that violence seemed to be the only option, but she had decided long ago that there were alternatives.

She couldn't kill this man, not directly, but he could die, and that was all she needed to know. She scrambled to her feet in an instant, running past the miner and back into the oasis, where she spied her sword on the floor. She scooped it up, running over to the door as fast as she could; she had to be quick with this.

She got the idea when she had tripped, it flashed into her mind, a metaphorical flame appearing above her head in response. She grabbed the nearest thing she saw, which happened to be a barrel of pick axes and tugged with all her might until it collapsed onto the ground, spilling them everywhere.

If her plan failed, she would be dead, but if it worked, the beast would be dead in her place. She slowly lowered herself onto the ground, until she was on her knees, and raised her sword in a slanted position to the door, this _had _to work.

The miner stumbled slowly as it yanked its ax from the ground, turning back towards its prey and continuing the pursuit, not caring if it was running, hiding, or fighting, it just saw a fresh soul.

Making its way to the doorway, Tsukasa couldn't help but smile inside as the beast mindlessly tripped over the pile of pick axes, almost as if it had seen them but paid no mind anyway. It fell, almost in slow motion, directly onto Tsukasa's sword.

The blade stabbed into its fleshy abdomen as it was skewered onto the point, slowly sinking lower and lower until the sword was so deep it tore from its spine, light purple blood gently squirting out in the process.

Tsukasa dropped the sword with a scream, and by extension, the miner impaled upon it. She crawled away and backed herself up against the wall, watching as the miner squirmed to remove the blade in its person, but failing.

She watched as it took its final few breaths before it succumbed to its wounds, and slipped into the release of death.

The bow-haired girl couldn't help it when a few salty tears slithered down her cheeks; she truly did feel sorry for the poor thing, even if it had tried to kill her but moments ago. In a moment of odd foresight, she realized the noise had probably alerted the other miners in the area, and decided she had no time to rest or grieve for the husk, she needed to keep going.

She carefully tore the blade from the gut of the miner, shivering slightly when she saw its fresh blood upon it, and slipped it back into her sheathe. Her suspicions were correct about the miners, they had come to check out the disturbance, but she had the upper hand of knowing how they worked now.

They were slow, and if she ran, they'd never be able to keep up. Spotting a nearby staircase, she ran up it as fast as she could, tearing up the ground as she sprinted as fast as she could, leaving the poor miners to continue their job for all eternity.

It wasn't long before she found herself in a completely new area, with one extreme change. It was hot, really hot, she found herself actively beginning to sweat as she walked deeper and deeper. Not only that, but it was covered by a gentle steam, misting the area and fogging the vision, it would be a dangerous trek indeed.

The walls were slicked with water, residue from the constant steam slowly dripping downwards. The area was lit, but not by torches, there seemed to be an ominous red glow in the distance, but she didn't know what it stemmed from, it was bright whatever it was.

Within the drips and drops of water from the stalagmites, the silent hiss of the mist, not to mention her own footwork and breathing, she heard something. It was faint at first, but it seemed to grow the farther she went. At first it sounded like the wind, perhaps from a crack in the wall, or maybe even a way out of this place, but the more she listened, this idea was debunked.

There was an almost melodic quality to it, and that's when it hit her, singing, it sounded like someone was singing. But who? Surely there was nobody alive in this place, or at least what she considered alive, to be of sound mind and body, which the miners certainly didn't qualify for.

"Hodo no naku…kumo to narinuru…kimi nareba…"

The singing seemed to be in some sort of exotic language, Tsukasa noted, it was times like this she wished she had actually listened a little more intently during school, like her sister.

"Mukashi no yume no…kokochi koso sure…"

The music oddly offset the creepiness that seemed to ooze out of the mine, it was haunting, but in a beautiful way. It came from the light tones of a woman, this much she could tell, and the sound seemed to radiate throughout the tight halls of the mine, slowly growing ever louder as she approached whatever was making it.

"Agakimi no…owasu tokoro wa…totsukuni ni…"

As she approached the red light, her eyes almost plopped out of her skull as she beheld what it emanated from. It was a pool of deep red lava, crusty rock dully floating on its murky surface; this was the cause of the steam and the light. The pool of lava seemed to stretch for at least several hundred feet, several hundred feet of bubbling, sizzling goop; she certainly wouldn't be going that way.

"Hi wa medetaku mo…sode o nuretsutsu…"

It was then that she noticed the singing seemed to be coming across the pit of lava, or that general direction anyway. Her suspicions were made known when she saw a shadow huddled to the ground on the other side of the lake, digging through some broken and forgotten objects on the ground. Was it a miner? Surely not, it probably wouldn't be able to sing, or at least not that beautifully, she thought with a small smirk.

Tsukasa knew it was a dumb idea, and that silence was supposed to be of the essence in any dangerous situation, but she just couldn't help herself, the singing intrigued her too much, she wanted to know who possessed such amazing pipes, and absent mindedly, she began hopping up and down and flailing her arms to and fro like a small child.

"Hey! Hey you!" She yelled out with a giggle, noticing that the figure suddenly halted in its singing and glanced upwards from the pile it was currently digging through.

The figure did nothing but turn to leave, and quickly Tsukasa noted, vanishing out of sight quickly as it had come. Groaning to herself, Tsukasa was a little disappointed, even if she probably shouldn't have been, ten to one says it was likely a demon anyway she thought.

At the word demon, she couldn't help but overhear a different noise behind her, but this sounded quite unlike the low, docile groan of the miners. It was a hiss, almost snake-like in nature, and turning to face it, she couldn't help but gasp.

It was a gecko, or would have passed for one at some point; she knew this because she had seen the creatures in a text at school once. Everything about it seemed to scream it was a gecko, just a normal gecko, except for the fact that it was nearly the size of a dog, and completely bathed in fire.

The beast hissed at her once more, and she wretched her sword out in response. It didn't seem to pose any threat, but she had to be sure, maybe it was just a dumb animal.

Her hope of the beast not posing any threat quickly vanished when out of the corner of her eye, she spotted several more of the fiery lizards climbing down the walls, dripping fresh lava off their frames and instantly frying anything they touched.

How was she to fight these beasts? There could be no way, her sword would melt on contact, and she'd probably end up burning herself as well. She surveyed her options, which were next to none, and decided to hightail it out of there.

She sprinted as fast as she could, almost dropping her blade when she noticed the beasts were keeping up with her, their stubby little legs working with the efficiency of a machine, their long tongues whipping around as their heads bobbed to and fro, lava dripping from their maws and sizzling the muddy ground at their feet.

Her running came to a sudden and unforgiving end when she nearly flew off a drop directly in front of her feet, she barely stopped quickly enough.

The drop led down deep, so deep she couldn't even discern a definitive bottom. The walls were lined with broken walkways, each one attempting to connect to the other, but age and destruction had gotten the best of them, rotting them away like the rest of the mine. Tsukasa mused that at one point, this was likely transportation into the deeper parts of the mine, but it seemed impossible to trek deeper at this point.

She turned at the sound of hissing, and found herself backed up against the cliff with the lizards slowly closing in, she was cornered.

She had no options, she couldn't fight them, she was done for. As she clenched her eyes shut and braced for death, she was startled when oddly enough, it never came.

The de facto 'leader' of the lizard suddenly leapt like a cat at the young girl, only for it to be suddenly impaled by a large, snarled looking arrow and flung across the room.

The bow-haired girl's eyes traveled to the arrow's launcher, which she couldn't clearly see, the figure was bathed in shadow, drawn bow in hand.

"Hey! You gotta jump if you wanna live!" The voice suddenly called out, and as Tsukasa noted, it was female, and extremely high-pitched, almost to the point of a child.

"W-What…?" The bow-haired girl mumbled as she turned to look at the pit, how was it her savior figured she might live? It was then that Tsukasa had a slim idea what she meant, even if her heart rocketed to her throat at the thought of it.

The stranger was asking her to make a leap of faith and attempt to jump onto one of the old, musty boardwalks below her, which was about a fifteen foot drop. Not only would she probably break her legs, have the board break and fall, and then die, she might just have a heart attack from the fall, pretty much anyway she looked at it the outcome seemed bleak.

"You're joking, right?" She yelled back hopefully at her savior, only to be met with a hearty laugh from the shadowy figure.

"Nope, 'fraid not! Trust me! Just aim for the center of the platform!" As she explained, the girl fired another arrow, which lodged itself directly in the skull of one of the lava geckos.

Tsukasa heard the squeal of the beast and turned around; noticing somehow that at least a dozen more geckos had showed up while she decided on a route to take. It seemed jumping was the only option, and focusing on the pit, she nearly heaved at the sight.

She tried to cut out her peripheral vision altogether, and just center on the closest platform, which even though it _was_ the closest, was still quite the leap. Tsukasa recalled something from her school days, something about momentum being factors in distance. Turning around, she grimaced at the horde of geckos; she didn't really have a lot of room to make a running jump.

She'd need to make her own momentum, whilst standing still, and once again at the thought, she remembered something else from school, it really did come in handy sometimes.

Slowly, the bow-haired girl began to swing her arms back and forth like pendulums, slow at first, but soon enough she was doing it with alarming speed. While doing this, she gently bend her knees, her position had to perfect.

She wasn't an athlete by any means, and while she certainly wasn't out of shape, she wasn't exactly _in_ shape for this type of activity either. Even people like her friend Konata, for whom something like this would be much easier, even she would still have difficulties attempting a leap like this.

Calm, she had to be calm. She couldn't let her mind wander to the dangers of jumping, but of her relief when she would gracelessly land against the hard wooden platform. She'd need to tuck and roll to avoid breaking anything, but most of all, she just needed to not think about it. That was probably the hardest thing, she mused, who doesn't think about death when attempting to jump into an endless pit?

She stilled her breathing, focused as much as possible, and drown out all sound. The light tug of the archers bow as she fired another arrow, the growl of a gecko as it's hide was pierced by a steel tip, the sizzling of fire at their feet, the drumming of her heart, it all stopped in an instant.

And then, she jumped.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Oh man, at first I really dreaded writing this chapter because it focused on Tsukasa, who I really never capture correctly, but then I started to really get into it. Unfortunately I had to end the chapter much earlier than intended, because I found a bit within that had too perfect of a cliffhanger, literally. I was sort of bumming when I didn't see any new reviews popping up for a few chapters, even if oddly enough as it seems, the farther my story goes I get more readers, they just don't review. Lo and behold my awe when I saw an extremely long, detailed and thoughtful review by a user known as LilithRyoko, which inspired me to all hell, I pretty much dropped everything and began the next chapter. The next chapter is gonna be somewhat of a gamble for me, because I don't really know who or what I want to focus on...eh, I guess we'll have to see. By the way this was the experimental chapter I had intended on implementing last chapter, but didn't. And if you don't remember, that was a chapter with as little dialogue as possible, which by the end, I was pretty proud of. I guess it wasn't nearly as difficult as I had imagined.

**P.S.: **The song that Tsukasa's savior sings is actually a real song, kudos to you if you know what it is, or understand what she's saying.

**P.S.S.: ** Do I suck at writing Tsukasa? God dammit, give me a break, I'm trying here!

**P.S.S.S.: REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW. **

**P.S.S.S.S.: **Review, thanks. Hasta la bye bye!


	8. Do You Trust Me?

**Lucky Souls **

* * *

**Chapter 8: Do You Trust Me? **

The roaring of the dragon erupted through her small frame, shook her to her core, it wouldn't be long until it would be hot on her heels again, how long could that reckless little knight really hold off the beast?

She eyed a nearby window, too quaint for a normal-sized person to fit through, but just right for her. It was times like this she actually welcomed the fact she was so petite, it really did come in handy.

Slipping partway out the window, it was only now she realized just what a drop it was. Stepping out really wasn't an option, it was at least a fifty foot drop.

"Rotten luck…" The bluenette whispered to herself, but before she could even attempt to think of another way to escape from her tormentor, a gale force of wind suddenly exploded from behind her, sending her flying out of the window like a rag doll.

Her heart nearly stopped as she flew in mid air, watching in slow motion as the tower she had been in was obliterated by the scaly beast, whose head was sticking out of the wreckage, continuing its monstrous roar at the falling prey.

What happened next she couldn't even describe, she felt lightness below her, soft like a pillow, almost like it wasn't even real. Perhaps she had already hit the ground, and her brain was fizzling out a few last random thoughts and feelings, she couldn't even tell.

Her mind went numb, followed by her body, as she slowly succumbed to the warm, gentle feeling that was surrounding her, consuming her.

Right before she surrendered to the warmness, she recalled something, a similar feeling to the one she experienced at that moment, a tender, gentle feeling, how long had it been? A month maybe, a little less, her journey wasn't even supposed to have started in the first place, let alone go on this long.

She did miss her father, more than anything, but she wondered if it was really worth it as she allowed her memories to take hold of her mind, and the darkness to gently eclipse her vision.

* * *

"Sojiro? No, sorry, haven't seen him since yesterday." Her cousin had told her, a frown brimmed with worry, her gloved hand clasped to her chin in thought.

"Oh, okay…well, I'm sure he's fine. Probably out with his new lady friend." Konata chuckled to herself with that reassurance; she had to assure herself everything was fine, even if nobody else would.

It wasn't like her father to just run out, especially without telling somebody. He was a simple man with simple needs, and while she knew he was out and about now and again, he was a pretty reclusive individual, and didn't often converse with, let alone spend time with, people outside of his small social circle.

Legally, Yui was at a bit of an impasse, she wasn't allowed to declare an individual missing unless they had not been heard from for at least twenty four hours, but Sojiro and Konata were her kin, and it irked her a bit that the wily old man would suddenly up and leave with a strange woman, it just wasn't like him.

"Well, look. This is pretty out of my hands but…well…" Yui mumbled to herself slightly, deciding on an appropriate course of action to take. She was captain of the city guard, and she had a reputation to keep, she couldn't abandon her post to search for somebody just because he was family, but she couldn't outright dismiss the issue either.

At the slight shift of brightness in the eyes of her young cousin, she couldn't help but give in, who could say no to that face? "I'll…keep an eye out, alright?" She leaned in with a wink, trying to lower her voice so her fellow guards couldn't hear her, and while the bluenette wished to scream in joy as much as she could muster, she kept it on the down low with a simple grin, knowing Yui wouldn't let her down.

Turning her attention to the other reason for her visit, the bluenette's green orbs shifted to the infirmary, where her dear friend would be waiting for her well and intact, or at least she hoped. She said her goodbyes to her cousin and was allotted a brief visiting period by the knights, who claimed the twin-tailed girl still needed quite a bit of rest before she would fully recover from the incident.

Gently creaking the door open, Konata inched herself in as slowly and dramatically as possible, shielding her eyes as she approached her bedded friend, who could do nothing but groan at her antics.

"Tell me Kagamin, how bad is it; did they have to amputate your head? Remove your brain?" She worriedly yelled out still covering her eyes.

"Yeah, they put my brain in a jar too. They're keeping it alive with magic." Kagami shamelessly joked back at her friend, earning a gasp from her as she wretched away her hand blindfold.

"Hey, you're not a brain! Oh well…" Konata mumbled as she plopped onto the wooden stool next to her friend's bed, grumbling with disappointment at the sudden revelation that her friend was still well, and in her body at that.

"Oh well? What's that supposed to mean!" Her tsundere roared back at her, earning only a laugh from the little blue joker.

"You know it'd be cool! Anyway Kagamin, you okay? Yesterday was pretty wild." The bluenette joked with a few last laughs, even if her demeanor was somewhat of a shield for the worry she was hiding.

At her words Kagami's chest couldn't help but run cold, was she okay? She wasn't even entirely certain, neither were the knights. They had told her that the Dregling had indeed pierced her skin, and that it is possible that the disease that plagued the beasts now ran in her blood, making her a ticking time bomb. They offered her some good news, saying that the wound looked benign, but only time would tell.

While Konata masked whatever fear she felt well with a carefully placed smile, Kagami knew better than to tell her friend any bad news, especially after what happened. It was technically the bluenette's fault, among other things, but the twin-tailed girl just didn't have the heart to blame her, she only had fun in mind that day, not any sort of danger.

"Y-yeah I'm fine, crazy huh? The knights told me that if the cut was just an inch deeper, I'd be in trouble. Pretty lucky, right?" The tsundere blurted out suddenly, realizing she had spent one too many seconds in quiet contemplation.

With her smooth lie apparently slipping right over her friends head, Kagami couldn't help but reprimand herself at the smile the bluenette now presented herself with, one of relief.

"That's good. Anyway…hey Kagami, you seen my dad?" Konata asked curiously, earning only a raise of a brow and a shake of the head from her wounded friend.

"No, why?" She responded, noticing that her friends usually chipper outlook seemed eerily missing, something was wrong, even if she did a pretty good job not showing it.

"Ah…no reason."

* * *

Eyes shakily opening to the world, Konata felt her memories fade from her; the warmth and past were gone in the blink of an eye as she allowed herself to join the waking world once more.

She surveyed the area, ignoring the throbbing feeling in her head as she slowly sat up and looked to the sky, had she fallen from the tower?

She watched as the mighty reptile in the sky continued to circle around the obliterated structure, breathing fire with reckless abandon, destroying everything it saw in a mindless rage, what had set this beast off?

More importantly the bluenette thought, what had broken her fall? There was no possible way she could survive such a drop, and especially not completely unharmed. She saw nothing and no one, what exactly was going on?

"Did I eat some funny-looking mushrooms, or something?" She questioned to no one in particular, her train of thought being broken by the sudden clank of armor against stone ground.

Ducking behind a nearby collapsed wagon, Konata scanned the area for enemies, but none seemed to appear. She saw shadows appearing from around a nearby corridor, followed by their casters, which were revealed to be a small band of knights, led by that foul-tempered little one.

The bluenette couldn't help but wonder how she survived, but saw easily why she decided to make a tactical retreat, that dragon was a serious danger, even for a trained knight.

"Hey! Little knight!" She called out as she jumped from her hiding spot, causing nearly the entire squad to rip their swords out in response, only to halt when their leader suddenly lowered her blade.

"You…" The pink-haired knight breathed out as she was approached with a laugh, an odd sight, not only because the blue-haired girl was laughing in Boletaria of all places, but that she was in Boletaria in the first place.

"You're the one that helped me with that dragon, thanks!" The bluenette cheered as she shook the tiny knight's hand with a laugh, only for it to be slapped away angrily.

"Don't be thanking me yet, civilian. I have some questions for you." The knight spoke as seriously as possible, but the bluenette couldn't help but smirk, just how scary could this pint-sized package of pink-hair be?

That thought was almost immediately retracted on Konata's part when the knights suddenly surrounded her, swords drawn and pointed in her direction, it seems a simple question and answering session wasn't exactly what she had in mind.

"Hey, whoa, look. I'll answer your questions, alright? Just-"

A blow to the back of the head suddenly sent the bluenette tumbling to the ground in a heap, a gash the size of a small rock bruised harshly into the back of her skull.

A small line of saliva slowly slipped off of her lip as her vision blurred, and the memories of the past slowly came flooding back as she felt the knights iron grips suddenly envelop her small form.

* * *

"Your father? No, Izumi-San I'm sorry, I'm afraid I haven't seen him today. Is everything alright?" The bubbly eyed mage Miyuki asked as she set down whatever book she had been currently reading.

"Yeah, everything's fine, I was just sorta wondering, I haven't seen him at all today." Konata played off with a shrug, trying to clear her mind of the idea that anything could be wrong and instead focus on what she should have been doing, school work, which her friend had offered happily yet reluctantly to tutor her in.

"Alright, if you're sure. Anyway, let's get back to the lesson, are you ready?" With a cheery nod in response, this was the sign for Miyuki to continue. "Okay, so, magic is an extension of the self, built upon by raw emotions and life force, where do mages siphon energy from?" Miyuki asked expectantly, hoping her friend had been paying attention, but at the sign of a blank face, she couldn't help but giggle at her friends slightly less than great attentiveness.

"Hehe, that's alright. Mages siphon energy from the soul, which is the metaphysical heart of any human, its existence has been debated for many generations. Scientists and scholars have found other alternatives to the theory, but we mages continue to believe that all life is sustained by souls." Miyuki continued to explain, noticing the bluenette was listening, albeit struggling to understand anything that was said by her bespectacled friend.

"Now, in order to produce efficient magic, a mage must pay a debt, of sorts. They must offer up a small portion of their own blood, to sustain their life, which in turn gives them the ability to harness the power of the soul, and use magic." Miyuki continued to explain, pressing her finger to her glasses and sliding them gently up the bridge of her nose.

Rubbing her chin in confusion, the bluenette shook her head wearily, she didn't understand a thing her friend was saying, but maybe that was for the best.

"Well, one thing I can say is that you sure know a lot Miyuki. Who taught you all this anyway? I remember some of it from the academy, but…" Konata noticed that some of this knowledge seemed to be imparted from different sources, she did pay attention _sometimes_, and she never remembered her instructors speaking of such things.

"Where…?" Miyuki whispered to herself, sheepishly scratching her head at her friend's question. "Well, somebody very important to me taught me all my knowledge of the magical arts, but…" Trailing off, Miyuki wondered if it would be wise to divulge any further, she trusted Konata, knew that the girl wouldn't tell anybody something she didn't want others to hear, but she couldn't help but be apprehensive.

Picking up on the sudden uncomfortable air filling the room, the bluenette let out a chuckle suddenly, slapping her hand to her knee and breaking her friend from her trance.

"Hey, did I tell you? I was visiting Kagami at the knight's clinic earlier, and they had in her in one of those hospital robes, you know the one's where you can see the person's butt? Is it just me, or does Kagamin kind of have a nice one?" The blunette giggled with a wink, nudging her friend's side roughly and causing the mages face to melt into a deep shade of red.

"I-Izumi-San!" She called out at her friend, clasping her palms to her reddening cheeks in embarrassment.

* * *

"Wake up, civilian!"

The screech that broke her out of her memory-laden sleep came from the puny knight she noted, the shrill squeaky voice and ever-present anger were dead giveaways, she had known this girl for a day and yet she continued to remind her of someone she had known her entire life.

Drearily, Konata pushed herself up off of the wet ground, spitting up a few drops of blood and saliva that had been stewing in her jaw for the past however long she had been out, again.

"That was really uncalled for, y'know…" The bluenette mumbled as she shakily attempted to rise to her feet, only for a sudden slam to the back of her knees to cause her to topple downwards once more. "Will you stop doing that!" Konata complained loudly, groaning at the growing pain in her head, and the now-growing pain in her legs.

"Why? So you can reveal our position to King Allant and his demon horde? I think not, girl. Don't think I won't cut you down in an instant if you even so much as hesitate during this questioning, understood?" The puny knight angrily roared, stomping her iron-clad boot down in queue with her screech just to make her point all the more profound.

Konata couldn't exactly refuse any line of questioning, she didn't doubt this angry little knight would kill her, she seemed to be having somewhat of a bad day, and she certainly didn't intend to make it any worse by being a smart ass, so she decided to respond with a nod only.

"Okay. So, first question, what are you doing here?" The knight Akira spoke as she began circling the battered girl at her feet, never allowing an eye to leave her heaped presence.

"I came here searching for someone, but I got sidetracked. I was traveling with my friends and I got separated from them, I was told one of them might be here." Konata answered truthfully, not even wishing to attempt a lie or try any funny business. It seemed the only way she could get out of this in tact would be to play along with the knight's little game.

"Fair enough, who were you searching for?" Akira asked with a raise of a brow. People rarely came to Boletaria for noble reasons, whomever she was searching for, something told her it was likely an artifacts smuggling operation, or slave trafficking, which were common practice among the few deprived and depraved survivors in the land.

She knew she couldn't hesitate, but the sudden stiffness and change of facial expression was all that was needed for the knight to suddenly tear her blade out and place it to the kneeling bluenette's throat. "Who were you searching for!" The knight roared once more, gently pressing the blade against the girls shoulder and curving it to her neck, ready to lob her head clean off should the response not be to her liking.

"…My father." Konata whispered quietly, allowing her eyes to drift up to the puny knight's to show her just how genuine her answer was. "My father went missing, I heard rumors of a blue-haired man, and a blind blue-haired woman making their way towards the kingdom of Boletaria, I followed them." Konata answered with vigor once more, trying to present her case as best she could, she certainly didn't want to be minus a head.

At her response, the knight seemed somewhat off-put. She didn't remove her blade from the girl's throat, but she didn't seem exactly ecstatic to kill her anymore.

"Blue hair…? We heard the same thing awhile back, we thought you were this blue-haired woman they spoke of, I can see now that is incorrect…" Slowly drawing her blade away from the girl's throat, the knight raised her hand to the air, signaling a nearby knight to grab a towel and some water for the beaten girl.

"I'm sorry for the brutality, but I had little choice. That woman is dangerous; our reports claim she is a powerful demon." The knight spoke, noticing the bluenette's mouth slowly creak open at the sudden revelation.

"A demon? But, my dad…!" Konata yelled back at the tiny knight, slowly standing to her level and shaking the pink-haired girls shoulders absent-mindedly, causing several knights to tear her from their superior's frame and send her harshly back down to the ground with a thud.

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but the one you seek is likely dead, either by that woman's hand or by the demons." The knight spoke matter-of-factly, placing a hand to her forehead and rubbing away the stress the heated conversation was currently placing upon her.

"You're wrong! You don't know that for sure…he's alive!" The bluenette erupted again, standing at Akira's level only to be thrown to the ground once more by the knights; they really did seem to have some poor manners she mused, tossing around a young lady like an object.

"And how do _you _know that! Look kid, I don't mean to shatter your dreams of finding your father, but face facts, it'd be in your best interest to just go home!" Akira exploded onto the poor girl, feeling her pulse radically pump behind her eyes in anger.

At that, the room fell deathly silent, no more retorts from the broken girl on the floor, and none from the fiery knight, the conversation had become null as far as either was concerned, it seemed nothing would get done with such attitudes filling the air, and while Akira wasn't exactly content with the answers she received from her little interrogation, she saw little point in continuing it.

"You can stay here the night, we're moving out the morning, and after that, you can do what you want. I don't recommend leaving now, its night, and while your vision might deteriorate in such an environment, the demons' surely won't." With that, the knight turned to leave, taking her brazen attitude and unasked questions with her.

Checking the knights just to make sure they wouldn't toss her around anymore, Konata sighed to herself, slumping back onto the hard ground and placing her hands behind her head, tenderly rubbing the gash that was now slowly beginning to ooze.

"Jeeze, they could've at least given me a pillow…" The bluenette mumbled to herself, deciding that sleeping on her side would likely be a less painful option.

The knight's words stung into her mind as she attempted to find any peace attempting to sleep. Was it really hopeless? Had the blinded woman really killed her father? What reason would she have to do that? Was he alive? Were her friends alive? At that moment absolutely nothing seemed to be looking up, and she couldn't help but choke on a lump in her throat as her eyes lazily drifted ever downwards, sending her back to her shattered sleep, and back to her looming memories.

* * *

"Ma'am, we just checked with our patrols in the lower quarters, they say there is still no sign of him." The knight sheepishly spoke to his captain, knowing she would be disappointed by the news, and the fact that he was the bearer of said news bode ill for him, even if his superior didn't mean anything by it.

Oddly enough, she didn't yell at him to search harder, or that his performance wasn't good enough, she simply resigned any arguments with a weary sigh and a pat on the shoulder as she passed him in a trance.

It had been a week since Sojiro had vanished, no word to anyone, just up and disappeared with that strange woman. In that time, Yui and her knights had been searching tirelessly around the clock for the wily old man, only to be met with strange looks and shakes of the head.

Not only was her uncle gone, it seemed that absolutely nobody had seen or heard where he went, and as odd as that was, it irked her even more that the kind old man would even do something such as this.

As each day passed, Yui noticed her younger cousin Konata growing ever more frantic with concern and worry, this was pretty unnatural for the girl who was usually so dull to the worlds affairs that it seemed almost to the point of an uncaring attitude, a girl who's only reason in life was to laugh and have fun, to see this girl in such a state was definitely chilling.

As she approached her cousin's shack of a home, she stood at the door for a moment and contemplated whether or not to even enter, and raising her hand gently, she decided against it. Maybe she just didn't look hard enough, or needed to double check somewhere, surely Sojiro hadn't left the city, maybe he was just at this woman's house, but at the thought, Yui certainly didn't remember any blue-haired blind woman living in the city.

Wearily, the sleep-depraved captain decided one more sweep of the city before turning in couldn't hurt, she may just get lucky and find the old man trailing some poor girl home from work; at least, she hoped she would.

On the hole-laden shabby balcony above, Konata watched as her cousin slowly turned back towards the seedy underbellies of the lower quarters of the city, hoping to find the man that had eluded her for the past week.

The bluenette knew that her cousin had been searching tirelessly, every day all day for her father, and she couldn't help but feel guilty about it. She had the entire city's police force on a leash to search for one man, and knew that while Yui wanted to find him as well, there were likely better ways to spend the resources required for the city wide manhunt.

Mingled with the guilt was a tinge of spite, for who she didn't know. Some for herself, for not noticing that her father had been under dire stress for so long, some for the strange woman that had taken him out of her life, and some for the man himself, who seemingly dropped everything he held dear to run away with this girl.

Her heart stung when the thought that her cousin wasn't working hard enough to find him flashed across her mind, and her guilt only piled on more. She wasn't exactly up and running around looking for the one she sought, instead, she was moping alone at home thinking about how others are fixing her problems for her, she really was selfish, she mused.

"Hey Konata!" A voice suddenly called out, and at its call, the blunette peeked over the railing of her shabby balcony, and saw her tsundere below her, light grin drawn across her face and hand raised in a greeting.

"Oh hey, Kagamin! What're you doing here?" Konata asked with a light laugh, trying to swallow the lump in her throat at that moment, hoping her friend hadn't seen her wallowing in her own self pity at her predicament.

"Oh, uh…" Sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck, Kagami cleared her throat, and attempted to make what she was about to propose as politically correct as possible. "I was just coming to check on you, I know you've been a little down so…need some company?" She asked with a beat red face, noticing that the bluenette's lips curled upwards slightly, well, she tried anyway.

"Sure, but only if-"

"The offer expires the second you make a dirty joke, so I'd hold that thought." Kagami moaned in despair, knowing her friend wouldn't be able to resist a perfectly well-placed set up when it presented itself.

With a hoot and a laugh, Konata motioned for her friend to join her, and with a head full of less than pure thoughts now hounding her mind, Kagami happily yet slightly reluctantly joined her, making her way into the house and onto the crumbling balcony.

Taking a step onto the wobbly thing, Kagami couldn't help but gasp slightly at what she saw. The view was quite the sight to behold, the grand city stretched out before her, presented as if in a painting on a museum wall. The faint glow of the many homes in the distance, the hustle and bustle of the many civilians combing its streets and walkways, and the brightly illuminated star filled sky, which stretched on in all directions as far as the eye could see.

"Wow, you got quite the view up here." Kagami noted as she soaked in her surroundings, spotting her friends houses in the distance, the rolling mountains that stretched to the heavens that tore open the sky behind them, it really was picture perfect.

"Yeah." Konata chimed in, but her own gaze was anywhere but the scenery her balcony so readily presented to her, she was beholding an entirely different spectacle of beauty.

Noticing her friend staring at her out of the corner of her eye, the twin-tailed girl couldn't help but nervously clear her throat, and scratch at the budding feeling of warmth that had begun to crackle in her cheeks and chest.

"S-So, any luck finding your dad?" Kagami asked trying to strike up a conversation, not really believing he had been found, but deciding that anything was better than awkward silence.

Lightly sighing, Konata stood from her sitting position to take one next to her friend on the railing, running a hand through her hair coolly, trying to alleviate the anger that was boiling up inside, she really didn't feel like making a scene in front of her friend.

"Nope, nothing. Yui told me yesterday that they're gonna call off the search." Konata said in a near whisper, not even trying to hide the anguish she was currently feeling, she felt there was no need. She didn't want her tsundere to worry about her, or even for her, she just wished everything could go back to normal, but what was normal in that day and age?

"What? They can't do that, can they? Maybe you could go ask Yui to extend the search?" The twin-tailed girl asked as optimistically as possible, knowing that in reality the amount of energy and time spent looking for him already was beyond it's limit, it was somewhat of a miracle that the search wasn't called off days ago because of how much resources it was wasting.

"I couldn't ask Yui to do that, she'd get in more trouble than she's already in. I heard some of the knights talking the other day; they think she's gone mad because of how hard she's looking into this. I think I should just accept that he's..." The bluenette explained wearily, slowly losing sight of the cityscape before her, it seemed to ooze, to blur slightly.

Blinking once or twice, she noticed her eyes were damp, and that was odd. She pressed into them harshly; she wasn't one for crying, ever. She rarely got sad, and even when she did she found ways to deal with it, she wouldn't allow herself to break down in front of Kagami, in front of anyone, she was bigger than that, she didn't rely on others for emotional support, they relied on her. She mused that everyone needed a shoulder to cry on now and again, but when she needed one, she wouldn't be crying.

Kagami didn't know what to say, she had never seen her friend like this, not once. She had rarely even seen her in the textbook definition of sad, when Konata was sad, she was more down in the dumps really, not full blown crying with a drippy nose sad. The only time when her eccentric little friend was ever less than happy was when she spoke of her mother, but not out of pity for herself, but for her father, who always seemed to take matters that involved her much harder.

As the silence took hold of the situation, Konata allowed the world to slow down for a moment so she could think. These past few days, she hadn't been entirely useless in the search for her father; she had done some snooping and information gathering of her own. With the last of her safety funds pooled together, she personally met with some off the less than reputable characters of the city for whatever scrap of information they could dig up on her father.

There were some rumors that he had gone north towards the northern kingdom of Boletaria, and that he was accompanied by a blind woman. Whether the rumors could be trusted were in question, but she didn't exactly have anything else to go on. At first, she wanted nothing more than to tell Yui and the knights, but thinking about it, they probably wouldn't believe her, and even if they did, they certainly wouldn't leave the city and travel to an entirely different kingdom in search of a single unimportant man. Were Sojiro a king, a noble, upper-class, they might, but he was just a lowly man, a single cell in the body of the world, in the grand scheme of things, he was as nothing before it.

So, Konata had already decided what needed to be done with the information given to her, she needed to act upon it, but how? Boletaria was dangerous, a land of demons now, condemned by its ruler and quarantined by the rest of the world as an inhospitable and ravaged land, its ground not to be tread upon by anybody.

Konata knew nearly nothing of travel, survival, combat, she had picked up a few things during her short life, and a few tricks of the blade from her father, but little else. She certainly couldn't make such a journey alone, well she could, but it would certainly end in failure and most likely her life.

She would need the proper equipment, allies, and the gall to even attempt such a perilous journey. Did she have it in her to abandon everything as her father did before her? Leave her life behind and go to find him in these wretched lands? She liked to believe that she did, even if the amount of apprehensiveness she felt towards such a goal to be insurmountable.

The world sped up around her once more as she unlatched herself from such thoughts, glaring in her friend's direction but not entirely maintaining eye contact, she found she could not.

"Hey Kagami, can I ask you something?" She sounded quietly, her voice cracking slightly in distrust at her self, she almost didn't want to even attempt to ask her friend such a thing, but found that her mind was nearly forcing her to.

"Yeah, sure. What's up?" The twin-tailed girl asked with a light grin, trying not to look down or off-put by the question in case her friend's mood suddenly took a turn for the worse once more.

She bit her tongue a moment before the words escaped her lips, it wasn't fair to Kagami, it wouldn't be fair to anyone if she asked anything more than her moral support from the girl, but thinking on it, life really wasn't too fair was it?

"Uh, well…this is gonna sound crazy, so bare with me." Konata started, turning away from her friend and looking the sky for answers, nothing but stars, she wouldn't be getting any help from the gods apparently. "I heard a rumor that my dad went north." She continued, still coldly turned away from her friend.

"North? To where?" Kagami questioned, what business would Sojiro have in the northern lands? There wasn't anything up there worthy of note, mostly anyway, and before the words escaped the bluenette's lips, a chill ran down the twin-tailed girl's spine, this was not good.

"Boletaria." Konata whispered, almost as if she didn't believe it, or want Kagami to even hear it. Even speaking the name of the damned kingdom was enough to silence a room of happy drunkards, and make them turn and listen in. What was told of the kingdom was mostly stories, a legend or a rumor passed from one person to the next, it was the only information anyone had on the place, it wasn't as if anybody had gone there themselves.

"What…?" Kagami had to replay the word over and over in her head to make sure she had heard correctly. "Boletaria? The kingdom that was wiped out by demons? _That _Boletaria?" Kagami hesitantly asked, knowing full well there wasn't exactly any other Boletaria to the north, probably not any other Boletaria in the world, she felt foolish for even asking.

Turning to her friend at last, Konata silently nodded, a stern expression masking whatever she was currently feeling at that moment.

Kagami couldn't even believe what she was hearing, if Sojiro had gone to Boletaria, for whatever unfathomably foolish reason, he was surely dead. While Kagami was lax to admit it, she saw that glint in her friend's eye, she saw that spark that stunk of malicious ideas, earth-shattering goals, and she couldn't help but feel a cold sweat slither down her back.

"Konata, please don't tell me you're thinking what I think you are." Kagami gently probed as she moved closer to her friend, hand lazily raised in an attempt to grab hold of her in case she attempted to make a sudden escape. She now knew why Yui's search was bearing no fruit, there was information on Sojiro, but it was being withheld, by his own daughter.

"Kagamin, please just listen to me for a minute." Konata began to explain, only for her hand to be roughly grasped into Kagami's and shook violently.

"Look, Konata. We are not having this conversation, it's out of the question, and you're out of your mind for even thinking it!" The twin-tailed girl erratically explained, more afraid than angry, she was appalled her friend would even cook up such a plan; she really was out of her mind.

"Please! Just listen for once! Before you call me crazy or stupid at least give me a chance to explain myself!" Konata yelled back with unusual ferocity, she wasn't one to lose control of her emotions, especially around Kagami of all people, but this was a serious situation, and she needed to be tough in resolve.

Heaving the mightiest of sighs, Kagami couldn't even believe it when she released her iron grip from her friend and resigned herself to actually listening to what the bluenette had to say; maybe she was the crazy one for humoring her.

"I don't even think I need to ask, you're thinking of going after him aren't you?" Kagami breathed out wearily, still scarcely believing she was listening to this dribble.

"Yeah, I am." Konata said without fear, she had to be strong, if she wanted this plan to work she couldn't seem apprehensive about it, especially if she was explaining it to somebody she wished to join on her on such a journey.

"I knew it, and the answer is no, Konata. You're not going after him, he probably isn't even there!" Kagami reasoned as much as she could, trying with as much force as she could muster to talk her friend out of this crazy scheme, but having little success as it would seem, whatever iron wall her brave little friend had built up in preparation for this conversation, it was a strong one.

"I'm going, Kagami." The answer was simple and to the point, and left little to no room for arguing, as was intended by its speaker. It seemed her friend was doomed to die in a pointless journey that would end with less than favorable results for anyone involved.

A light silence filled the air, the two girls eyes locked together, unflinching and unmoving. One could not sway the other in their opinion on the matter, and they would either stay on their side or defect to the others. Konata knew where she stood, but she needed to see just how far her friend would be willing to go, she needed to know.

"Do you trust me?" The bluenette suddenly sounded, breaking the silence and the thick tension in the air in a flash, causing the two to exit their minds and return to the world.

"What? Of course I do, what are you on about?" Kagami asked suspiciously, eyeing her friend as the bluenette closed the gap between the two, taking the twin-tailed girls hands in her own gently but firmly, whatever resolve was currently fueling the girl; she seemed unbeatable in her current state.

As Kagami gazed into her friends dancing green orbs, she saw a surge of emotions she had never seen from the girl before. She had know her since they were children, the two knew everything about one another, shared every experience together, lived their lives as the best of friends. And until that moment, Kagami had never seen her friend so sure of something, so positive, that she knew what had to be done.

"Then trust me." Konata quietly sounded, releasing her friends hands sheepishly with a snicker, turning away to hide the light blush that was striping across her pale face. "I'm going after him. I need to know why he left, more than anything I just want to know. And, more than anything…I want you to come with me." The bluenette said as she turned back to her friend with a warm smile, no longer attempting to hide the rosy blush that was enveloping her face, which again was odd, she was usually pretty slick with these types of things.

She extended her hand once more, but this time held it open. Whether her friend, her dear tsundere, would trust her was in question, but she had to know.

Glancing back and forth between Konata and her extended palm, Kagami didn't know what to do. Her friend was asking her to give it all up and run away with her on some crazy adventure, and not the typical kind either, this was surely to be an adventure that would be the end of them. This wasn't some little walk downtown to mess with thugs, to sneak out of school, to explore crypts; this was in a whole different league entirely.

It would haunt her for the rest of her days, why she did what she did. She would replay the scene over and over in her head a thousand times and always reach the conclusion that she must've been insane when she agreed to what her friend was suggesting, that she must've been crazy, there was no other way to look at it.

No words needed to be said about it, no objections, no suggestions, nothing. As Kagami extended her hand out to meet Konata's, and clasped it gently around the bluenette's, she knew she had made the right decision, no matter how crazy it was.

* * *

A drop of water plopping onto her twitching nose suddenly arose Konata from her light slumber, releasing her memories hold over her as she feverishly scanned the room for opponents, but seeing none, only the knights, and their puny little leader sound asleep all around her.

She wiped the antagonistic drop of water from her nose with a grumble, laying back down to the ground and closing her eyes to return to the dream world, she needed a little break from the real one, it was seeming bleaker by the day.

As she gently closed her eyes and prepared to slip into unconsciousness once more, she felt a twitch at her finger, a twang that she couldn't seem to irk off, it seemed omnipresent, it was her promise, stapled forever into her being like a scar upon her flesh.

She had no intention of betraying her friend's trust.

* * *

**Author's Note: ** Oh good, another experimental chapter. I did a flashback chapter awhile back, but I handled it poorly and received some pointers from my readers about how I might better handle such a thing. Well, this is the result. Instead of a single solid flashback, I put transitions from the current time line to the past one, and pointed out each time it happened quite easily, each time Konata lost consciousness, she had a flashback. Easy enough to understand, right? Flashback chapters are always a bummer for readers I'd have to assume, because they do little to further the plot. They might make you understand it more, but still. And I finally added a little bit of fluffiness, this is supposed to be a part romance story too right? Right. And I seemed to be forgetting that these past few chapters. Don't worry about it though, I'll keep the action and plot heavy, even with the romance elements, promise. Also interesting to note, I had a blast writing this chapter for some reason, same with the last chapter. I think I'm getting more comfortable with my writing now, I don't know, but I like the feeling.

Well, until the next chapter, which now that I have this one out of the way, will be released in no time at all. Hasta la bye bye!

**P.S. : How was my second attempt at a flashback chapter? It wasn't too confusing with the constant shift between timelines was it? I hope not. **


	9. Fool's Idol

**Lucky Souls **

* * *

**Chapter 9: Fool's Idol **

"Believe me I'd like nothing more than to help you. But you must understand that this is no ordinary cell, as long as I am bound by its cage, I will be unable to assist you with anything."

This is what the mage had told the distraught twin-tailed warrior, brazen and impatient, she would have rather just killed that girl Hiyori and saved herself some time, looked for another way of ridding herself of the disease, but she couldn't shake the feeling of the unknown that prickled her neck. This mage was telling the truth, she didn't know why, but she believed it nonetheless.

"Since I find myself unable to exit this rat-cage the ordinary way of doing so…extreme measures will have to be taken. The locksmith of this prison has long guarded over the master key ring of this place, I do not know if he still lives, but if he does, you will find it on his person."

She replayed the explanation over and over in her head so she would not forget the mages words, her mind was preoccupied with so many topics she found it hard to focus on a single one, no matter how important or trivial said topic was or how it correlated to the task at hand, it was on her mind.

"About that though…well, I'm not sure if it exists anymore, but the locksmith often traveled with a guardian. And when I say guardian I more mean monster, and by monster, I sort of mean demon. A powerful one too, so I'd watch out for that. Now, I don't doubt your ability or anything, but you might need some assistance with the demon, and seeing as I am currently preoccupied…I have a suggestion."

As Kagami entered the maximum security level of the prison, she couldn't help but be a tad apprehensive as she entered, when they said maximum security they sure weren't kidding. When one first eyed this area, prison certainly isn't the word that would come to mind, at least not for humans, birds maybe.

The cells were hung from the ceiling by thick chains, dangled hundreds of feet above the ground. Staircases lined the area, twirling and circling to the heavens, the only paths leading to the hanging cells. What shocked the warrior the most was that there wasn't a single squid-headed guard, in fact, there didn't seem to be a single opponent of any kind, anywhere.

She wasn't naïve though, she had learned enough of tricks and traps, and this was definitely one. There was something to this room she just wasn't seeing, but she had a pretty good idea. The floor was covered in a thick black goop, what it consisted of was anybody's guess, but it certainly bode ill.

Mixed in with the strange dark substance were bodies, lots of them, shredded like paper, whatever had eviscerated them certainly wished to make a ghastly point. The stairs leading to the cages weren't going to come to her however, she'd need to trek the goop if she were to seek the assistance the mage claimed awaited her at the apex of the level.

She wasted no time taking her first few steps into the ankle deep muck; it was stretchy, and clung to her armor-clad feet with each slump she took through the sludge. Trying to keep her eyes leveled was difficult, the goo stunk with a foul recognition, it burned at her nostrils and twanged at the tips of her eyes, attempting to keep the salty liquid from squeezing out of her orbs was proving to be more difficult by the second as she the slush slowly rose to her knees.

When she heard a slithering noise at her back, the twin-tailed warrior desperately wished to believe it was a slight howling of the wind or perhaps a cricket hiding in a bush somewhere, but she knew better by now.

She turned tail in a flash, sword in hand ready to face her ambushing foe, but was met with nothing. While she couldn't see it, a snake-like presence made itself known at her soles, brushing past them ever so delicately, she didn't even know what hit her when she was suddenly snagged from below and ripped from her staunch position, flung head first into the murky and foul goo.

It took her less than a second to resurface, hacking up the sludge and smearing it from her field of vision. While she was perhaps more disgusted than she had ever been before, and the urge to heave up any of the foul residue that had entered her system was growing by the minute, she had no time to feel sick, the beast in the sludge wouldn't give her this meager reprieve.

The beast didn't seem interested in playing games, whatever it was, it was preparing to stand at attention as well, however it went about that was anyone's guess.

Whatever the beast's true form was, it certainly didn't show, as the goo slowly began to shape into a rather bulbous and fat bubble, mixed with the heaps of bodies, it somewhat resembled a giant black slug, composed of rotting corpses covered in the sludge.

"Oh my god…" Kagami couldn't help but quiver out as she eyed the horrifying beast before her. What was wrong with demons, exactly? Did they always surmise that choosing the most grotesque and visually unappealing form was more effective in tantalizing their foes with fear? Why would they care about that anyway, weren't they mindless demons?

As the slug inched its slippery form towards its slime-covered prey, it suddenly began to glow brighter and brighter, until its entire form was illuminated by a clear and sparkling light. What it did Kagami sure didn't know, but she didn't waste any time moving as far away as quickly as her goo-covered feet allowed.

Without warning, a crack of light suddenly beamed from the corpse-pile, several feet in width that assimilated nearly anything in its path, including the goo. It missed Kagami by an inch, singing the back of her cloak as she ran and disintegrating it almost instantaneously.

As smoke fizzled out from the corpse pile, she saw this as her chance to strike, it seemed the beast needed a moment before it could attack again, and this brief window of time would be her only saving grace in this battle, if she were hit by the corpse pile's beam, she'd surely be killed instantly.

As she worked her way to the beast, she couldn't help but cringe as she moved along its side, eyeing the prisoners within. Some of them weren't even dead, dying maybe, but they could definitely still feel the pain. Their skin melted from their bones as they were sucked deeper into the corpse piles murky form, Kagami preyed their deaths would be quick and painless when they were enveloped into the monster, for their suffering at that moment was surely great.

Raising her blade to the air, she swung with a fury at the muck monster, only to be met with a suspicion she feared, her blade was immediately lodged into its goopy hide. She tugged once, no use, that blade was gone. She watched with horror was her sword was absorbed into its form, she definitely wouldn't be getting that back anytime soon.

"Think Kagami, think…" She was supposed to be smart, right? She often claimed she was to her less than intelligent friends, always made a point that they were lazy, irresponsible and so forth, well if she was so damn smart, she decided she'd prove it.

This beast definitely couldn't be defeated with conventional weapons, it seemed unlikely at any rate. Her eyes drifted to where the corpse piles mighty light beam had struck, it had knocked over several pillars, which in turn caved in the heavy stone ceiling they supported.

This beast definitely wasn't intelligent, or seemingly not, she figured she could easily do the same to it.

"Hey, over here you freak!" She yelled to the pile, giving her hands a few expertly timed claps as she moved away from the beast and under several nearby pillars, which weren't just sporting a ceiling overhead, but at least twenty of those massive hanging birdcages, this would definitely work.

The slug slithered right where she wanted it, hook line and sucker. It revved up slowly, illuminating brilliantly as it prepared another attack. She needed to think of it like cutting a piece of paper, from one end to the other. Slowly and carefully she positioned herself in front of a pillar, preparing for the brief fraction of a second she would have to move or else she would be joining the rest of the poor souls in that corpse pile.

As the slug bucked, she knew it was time. She jumped to the side as the crackling bolt of light exploded from the monsters frame, slicing the pillar expertly, and just as the twin-tailed warrior had hoped, it didn't stop there. The beam of light followed her, and she definitely couldn't slow down, it was a lot faster than she had anticipated.

The light cut through one pillar, and another, and another, until nearly ever pillar in the area had been pushed over into a dusty heap.

Kagami couldn't help but let off a triumphant grin when she heard the creak of the crumbling ceiling. The caving in took only a matter of seconds, cages and stone slabs the size of carriages smashing down with untamable force upon the slug like the wrath of an angry god.

The beast let out pig squeals of pain as the metal and stone crunched into a fine bloody mess onto the ground, burying it completely in the aftermath of the cave in.

With a few last clicks and clacks of tiny pebbles falling against the pile of debris, the tsundere let out a light sigh as she wiped the sweat and goo from her furrowed brow. It was just one thing after another with this place, it was relentless, it never gave up even long after your body and spirit were at their limits.

That was the whole point though, she figured, of being a demon, far surpassing any human quality such as simple fatigue, they really were called demons for a reason.

Noticing the slightly brighter atmosphere the prison level was now presenting, Kagami noticed nearly the entire roof was missing, giving way to an eerie yellow moon, partially covered by a dense fog and dark overcast clouds. She hoped that the assistance she sought wasn't in any of the numerous cells that had met their end during the roofs collapse, but she certainly couldn't be that unlucky, could she?

Taking her original path, she began her ascent up the many flights of stairs that led to the swinging bird cages, just where was that crazy little mage leading her?

"Now, I don't exactly know if she'll help you. Actually, ten to one, she'll probably kill you. Well, she might not, but she'll definitely be thinking about doing it! Look point is, she's dangerous, so watch out okay? If you have something she wants, she'll take it, by force. You need to find some way to convince her to help you…er, sorry, I wasn't alluding to an idea or anything, you're pretty much on your own there too."

That was the end of the mages instructions, she really was a clueless little creature, Kagami was beginning to regret this entire ordeal, she wondered how powerful this guardian was, and if she would really need the help, but noticing the cuts and bruises that lined her now sore and achy body from that last battle she figured it certainly couldn't hurt.

At the top of rail-less staircase, the path came to a halt, leading to another one of the bird-like cages, except it appeared to be more of a box, no bars whatsoever, just a cube of solid iron walls with a door, was this person really so dangerous?

Carefully, the twin-tailed warrior opened the peep-hole of the cell, leering into the utter and absolute darkness within. The insignificant trail of light illuminated what appeared to be a body, curled up onto the floor and unmoving, it was impossible to tell whether or not the figure was alive or dead.

"Great, well, that was a fantastic waste of time…" Kagami mumbled as she turned to leave, only to hear the slinking of chains within the cell, and a low-pitched and ominous gurgle of a laugh, it sent not only shivers up her spine; it nearly made her drop her blade.

"What's the hurry?" A voice chimed rather playfully from the cage, and more out of morbid curiosity than anything else, Kagami decided to humor its owner. Carefully, she pressed her eyes through the lone hole of the cell once more, and peered at the now sluggishly moving figure.

"Show yourself, prisoner." The twin-tailed warrior apprehensively demanded, trying to sound as dominating in her tone as possible, but it came off rather docile, almost as if she really didn't want to see the face looming in the dark.

The boxes life form made little haste in following the order, casually sitting up for a curling lion stretch, the sound of a relaxed yawn bellowing from her pit as she slowly slunk upwards, this woman was very calm in her demeanor, it seemed.

As the figure un-bathed herself from the shadow, Kagami couldn't help but back up a few feet in case a hidden blade was suddenly thrust through the peep-hole, precautions and all that.

The woman was tall and fit, her lanky figure was adorned with deeply colored leather stitched armor, and her hair was a light gold, the long mess lazily tied into a thin ponytail that striped down her back. Her sharp emerald eyes were half-lidded and listless, still attempting to adjust to the overbearing light breaching her confined dark spaces.

Approaching the peep-hole, the woman seemed to look her would-be-savior over, size her up just in case the inevitable would come, but her serious attitude and expression quickly melted into a much more chipper façade, whether it was genuine was a mystery.

"Hey, well here I am. Cute, aren't I? Can you believe I'm still single?" The strange woman playfully cooed, her moaning face revealing a sharpened tooth at the edge of her mouth. "Not as if there's really many bachelors these days, though…" She joked, running a hand coolly through her hair as she leaned against the cell wall nonchalantly.

Before Kagami could interrupt, a hand was suddenly and erratically jutted from the cell, open-palmed and ready for shaking, a dumb goofy grin present on the face of its owner.

"The name's Nanako Kuroi. Some people call me the silent scholar, others call me a friend, some call me their worst nightmare, others a maiden of pure beauty and some a dark and evil temptress…but for now, you can just refer to me as, Sensei." The prisoner now aptly named, Nanako Kuroi, peeped with the chipper of a child, grasping a hold of the twin-tailed warrior's hand and shaking it to and fro.

"N-Nice to meet you…" Kagami hummed gently, releasing herself from the gentle grip of the in mate. While Hiyori had placed some pretty heavy emphasis on the level of danger this woman presented, she didn't exactly seem that way, a little chipped in the head maybe, but definitely not dangerous by Kagami's standards.

"So, what brings you to this little slice of paradise I call home? Surely it wasn't the exotic food and fun, eh?" The prisoner joked as she cocked her head with a grin, revealing that same omnipresent fang that protruded so noticeably every time her mouth opened.

"Well, I was told to seek your assistance by a…acquaintance, of sorts." Kagami started, trying to seem as official about this as possible, she wasn't entirely an expert in the art of asking people for help, she didn't really do it all too often.

"An acquaintance? And who might that be, if I may ask? Not many acquaintances left these days." Kuroi noted, her wily smile never leaving her face as she disinterestedly paced back and forth in her cell, treating the situation as if she received a visitor in her damp cell everyday of her life.

"Uh, a mage. I think it was…Tamura-San." Kagami recalled, not really remembering to bother the mages name, she was more interested in what the mage could do, not who she was.

At the sudden sound of the name, the demeanor of the prisoner seemed to shift slightly, but to an untrained eye it wasn't noticeable, the scholar's demeanor was trained for such things, to be ever calm and collected, the slightest change in facial expression or tone of voice could swing favor in a conversation, and the slightest difference in emotion could mean victory or death in battle.

"Tamura-San, you say? Hmm, the name seems familiar, perhaps we've crossed paths. Must just be one of those names you remember, yeah?" The prisoner chuckled to herself more than anyone, resting her leather-bound hands behind her head as she paced.

"Right, anyway…look, this mage, I need to free her, but in order to do that I require the key of some warden. According to her, said warden is guarded by a powerful demon, and I'll need all the help I can get in taking it down, I think you can see where I'm going with this." The warrior pointed out, eyeing her elder carefully as her face scruffily scrunched at the offer.

"A demon, eh? Hmm, well I may be interested, but perhaps not. What's in it for me?" Kuroi asked expectantly, practically rubbing her hands in anticipation for some vast wealth or treasure that the warrior was likely preparing in compensation for her services.

"Your freedom, is that not good enough?" Kagami asked with a cocked head, earning a disappointing groan from the prisoner, she really did seem the type who liked rewards they could touch and spend, instead of immaterial ones.

"You've got me there, and who knows? Getting some fresh air might do these creaky limbs some good, eh? The issue remains though, how do you intend to free me?" The prisoner asked as down-putting as possible, her wily grin ripped from her face in an instant when she saw the twin-tailed warrior place a messily scrawled talisman upon the thick door of her cell.

"The mage gave me this, she said it wouldn't work on her cell, but it might on yours." Kagami noted as she watched the little magical device do its job, suddenly bursting into a small tuft of flame before it vanished, leaving a neatly-cut square hole in its place. "Voila, that seems to have done the trick." The warrior cheerily noted, perhaps that little blue-blooded mage wasn't as useless as she let on.

Looking between the door and the young girl before her, the prisoner seemed almost apprehensive about leaving the confines of her cell, her safe little box, she had been trapped within the claustrophobic environment for so long that leaving it seemed almost taboo.

Gently pressing open the slab of dark metal, the blonde prisoner took her first few creaky steps into freedom, and it felt good, her body instantly buzzed warm with fresh adrenaline, her nostrils frosted over with the scent of fresh air, she felt alive once more.

"Well, well, well, not bad little girl." Kuroi noted with a stretch, popping her bones and joints back into place with a victorious jungle cat yawn. "I half expected you to-"

The slicing of air suddenly cut the lax prisoner off as quickly as she started, and cold steel was now present and pointed directly to her gut, softly probing into her flesh. She could do nothing but let off a little chuckle, what gall the twin-tailed girl had to even wretch a blade in her direction she mused, just who was this girl?

"Now, now, there's no need for that." Kuroi hummed, poking the blade with her pointer and casually pressing it downward. "You can trust me, honest! You gave me my freedom, and I'm a woman of my word, I'll help you slay this guardian." The prisoner probed once more, earning a sigh from the warrior as she removed her blade from her person, placing it back into her sheathe wearily.

"Sorry, old habits, it's hard for me to trust people." Kagami bashfully noted, scowling at her inner self for developing this poor habit just because of one rather iffy past experience with trust. "Well, hey, take this." The warrior said as she tossed a short and dusty blade over to the prisoner, who caught it expertly and examined it with fervor, she was picky about her weapon of choice apparently.

"It will have to do. Alright, come on now, let's not waste any time, I'm long overdue for an appointment as it is." Kuroi moaned as she clasped the blade to one of the many strapped belts around her waist and torso, marching ahead of her freer and beginning to trek aimlessly down the only direction available.

Hesitantly at first, Kagami cautiously began to follow her, keeping an eye out for any sudden movements the apparently dangerous prisoner might attempt, just in case. Kagami was very serious in her trust, she considered it sacred, and offered it only to the few people she truly believed it would be well-placed with, and such a list numbered in the single digits.

She hadn't always been this way; she would often tell secrets to Konata, or her sister, when she was young and naïve, before she personally experienced the dangers of such seemingly simple acts. When and if her trust was ever betrayed in her short life, she found it very hard to let such things go, even if they were seemingly unimportant or easily forgettable to the other parties involved. In those she placed her guarded trust, she prayed it would never be betrayed, god help the person who tried, or forbid, succeeded in betraying the twin-tailed girls trust.

"Stop for a minute." The prisoner noted, crouching downward followed by her tailing rescuer. "Dreglings, lots of them." Kuroi pointed out, and correctly, a rather hefty amount of the shambling warriors were stalking around the area, oblivious to anything and everything.

"Should we sneak by?" Kagami asked, but earned only a laugh from the prisoner as she stood and wretched her blade out expertly, laying it over her shoulder with a cocky grin, she definitely didn't seem to be the stealthy type.

"You kiddin'? Just who do you think I am, kid?" The prisoner laughed, suddenly bursting away from their meager hiding place and running like a maniac into the crowd, Kagami didn't even have time to stop her before the woman's blade sliced a Dregling clean in half at the waist, snapping its brittle frame in two like a thin slice of wood.

Kagami could do nothing but watch her sensei work, with the skill and raw might of the deadliest warriors of the land, just who was this woman? Her blade cut down husk after husk, leaving none alive as she moved from one to the next, chopping them down with one swift strike each.

Her grace with a blade left nothing to the imagination, this woman was skilled at her trade, which irked Kagami a little, were that so, that would mean she was pretty respectable when it came to killing. This woman was no ordinary prisoner, there had to be a reason she was in the maximum security wing of the ivory prison, there had to be a reason she was so heavily guarded and confined to her black box, just who was she?

Slicing down the last of them, her sensei could do nothing but burst out with a few chuckles, wiping the looming sweat on her brow as she scanned the area for a progress report. Single-handedly, she had pretty much cut down an entire battalion of the husks, the corpses piled upon one another, and the hacked limbs were tossed in every direction, this woman was visceral, and ruthless in the way she took down opponents, she seemed to know key weak spots on a human frame, gunning for places like the throat, the spine, the chest.

Kagami's worry was well placed, and before she could comment on the woman's slaughter-fest, a dagger was flung dead on in her direction, or so it seemed. The flying weapon passed her in a flash, slightly grazing her cheek and lobbing into the skull of an approaching Dregling which the twin-tailed warrior had been unaware of.

"There. I noticed you were a little suspicious, now you know what I'm capable of. Like I said, trust me, this guardian of yours is no match for my skills." Kuroi chirped as bubbly as possible as she tore her blade from a nearby corpse, wiping the clinging entrails and blood onto her pants. "You don't spend as many years in my profession as I do unless you're properly trained, in both mind and body." She knowledgably explained, leaving the corpse-littered area to return to her stunned companion.

"And what is your profession exactly?" Kagami asked as she eyed the prisoner, to which Kuroi curled her arms together in thought, as if she didn't know exactly how to classify what she was.

"Well, let's just say that I remove certain parts from machines, broken ones, which do nothing but slow down the whole." Kuroi illustratively explained as she flung her hands to and fro to make her point all the more poetic, but the warrior wasn't amused, or naïve.

"You're an assassin." Kagami sounded, to which her companion only shrugged with a smirk, apparently she cared little if people knew her true profession, or perhaps she was just smug, and knew that as skilled as she was, nobody could end her if they had an issue with it.

"Ugly word, that one. Think what you like, but the fact still remains that you need my help, if you have a problem with what I do, we can end this partnership now, your choice." Kuroi casually noted, laxly picking bits of flesh off her blade with a smile, the whole scene was rather demented.

Kagami couldn't exactly disagree, she'd need this woman's help to defeat this guardian, she had gotten lucky on the few encounters with demons before, but her luck would run out eventually if she didn't have a wild card, this assassin would have to be hers for now, until something better came along.

Cocking her head for the assassin to follow, the pony-tailed killer let out a rumbling laugh, she was enjoying herself around the fiery little warrior, she was a handful, but she was fun to pick and prod at in a way.

Making their way out of the cell block, the two found themselves in an area that looked nothing like the ivory-stricken walls of the prison, it seemed to be a straight path leading to a broken and battered staircase, which by extension, led to a magnificent church. The stain glass windows of the church melted in ruby and emerald colors upon the area, mixing in with its natural dirty and dull colors, giving the entire room an odd multi-color hue.

Standing at the foot of the mighty climb to the church was a monument, tearing brilliantly into the roof, it was a disheveled man, a prophet likely of whatever deity this oddly placed church worshiped, standing arms-bared to the heavens, beseeching whatever god that ruled over him.

At the great figures feet, corpses littered the ground, dozens of barbed arrows sewn through their forms; they looked like life sized voodoo dolls, and pincushions for the steel-tipped menaces that barraged them. Kagami noted not a single corpse seemed beyond the statues heels, not a single one had gotten an inch farther.

"Trap?" Kagami sounded, earning only a weary resignation from her assassin companion.

Taking the lead, Kuroi lightly removed a gleaming knife from her torso, tossing it as far as she could manage, which amazingly was several feet from the monument's toes, she had quite the arm.

The ground shook before them suddenly, rattling their timid frames, and the exoskeleton that remained of the crusty old prison around them, causing mini-avalanches and cave-ins of debris to topple off nearly everything imaginable, and plummet into the seemingly endless columns of cells, ever downward into the bottomless black pit set around them at all times in this place.

The rumbling in question seemed to stem from the monument, which suddenly split in half and began slowly opening, it wasn't a statue, it was a machine. Giant gears slowly began to crank at its feet, sliding the monument open slowly but surely and revealing ricochets, armed with stocks of arrows, ready to fling the dozens of death bolts at any intruders who dared tread upon the apparently very sacred ground.

The slings of arrows were lobbed in a frenzy, lining the ground and puncturing the corpses into oblivion, and causing the two intruders to lash out of the way as fast as they could, just barely dodging the legion of arrows that threatened to staple them to the ground.

"Close…" Kagami whispered out, earning a 'you're telling me' face from the assassin.

"Somethin' tells me we aren't going this way." Kuroi noted, placing a finger to her chin, this would definitely be tricky she mused. She was usually pretty good at finding the weaknesses in defenses as well, not just people. Being an assassin, she would need to know the fastest and safest route to take on any situation; ones that needlessly threatened her life or compromised the safety of the mission were things she had to absolutely avoid at all costs. Mess ups would down her pay for the job in question harshly, things like the death of anybody but the target, property destruction, and being caught in the act would all be docks in her reward.

While this particular job of assisting the angry little warrior wasn't exactly official, and held no real reward, she still held her principles close to her; she upheld them on or off a job.

The statue seemed pretty resilient; at first glance it didn't seem to have any notable weaknesses. The distance required to reach it would be all the time it would need to fill her with steel, so approaching it normally wasn't an option. Climbing on the sides of the walkway was an option, but without a rail, she would have to cover the great distance relying only on her finger strength, the prophet would allow no more room to breathe then that.

"The mechanism to shut it off is likely on the inside, which I certainly can't reach from here." Kuroi noted to herself, scrunching her chin in thought at the dilemma. "I have an idea, but you'll have to follow my lead, _closely_, understand?" The assassin asked, earning a hesitant nod from her companion.

As if it was something completely natural, Kuroi casually lifted a pin-cushioned corpse up off the ground and held it in front of her frame, masking her presence with the dead man's.

"Alright, get behind me." Obeying her sensei's orders, Kagami positioned herself directly behind the assassin, trying to match up their frames perfectly as the idea of what she had to do slowly clicked into place, this definitely wouldn't be easy. "You must keep in tune with me, one slip up and you'll kill us both, so pay attention to my feet. Left, then right, slow steps, understood?" She asked to the now unusually timid warrior, who only responded with another shaky nod.

Taking the first few careful steps, the two moved onto the track, ready for the barrage of arrows that would be slung towards them at alarming speeds, or as best as someone could be prepared for such a thing. The monument lobbed it's barbs on cue, pelting the area with a hail storm of arrows, ripping through the armor-clad corpse entirely and lightly grazing the assassin's abdomen, this was getting a little too close for comfort.

The two were moving forward at the pace of a tortoise, slow but steady, matching the rhythm of one another as they mimed their way up the rickety and rail-less walkway.

Out of the corner of her eye, the assassin noticed an arrow that would slip through the gap of the arm of the corpse, and she could do nothing to stop it from tearing through the girl behind her unless she acted quickly.

Without warning, she suddenly thrust their mimed threesome over as far as she could manage without losing the rhythm, but at a price, the arrow had cleanly slipped through the now barbed-ridden corpse and punctured her shoulder harshly, she quivered under her breath at the searing pain, trying her best to not numb out completely and lose her grip on the shabby body of a shield.

"Oh my god, are you alright? Hey, sensei!" Kagami worriedly sounded, earning only a gentle giggle from the injured assassin, still keeping their steady movement towards the end of the path.

"Yeah, all good, this is nothing." She cheeked out in response, gritting her teeth as the lowered her gaze to the little prickly thing. Whoever made these arrows definitely wanted to make sure they were as painful as possible, the tip was wrapped in spiky barb, poking and prodding at her insides with each dull movement of her now slowly oozing shoulder. The shaft of the arrow was slicked in a pasty substance, likely oil, which was slowly but surely sponging into her wound, singeing it with buzzing pain.

The pair reached the end of the walkway more or less intact, instantly dropping the gnarled corpse and taking a breather at the foot of the monument.

Without a word, Kuroi slipped a knife from her coat and gently pried it into her wound, slowly and gently as possible, cutting the flesh open as much as was needed, holding onto the handle of her blade and deeply pushing it into her shoulder to keep a steady grip to hold the wound open.

"Hey kid, I need you to take this end of the arrow, and pull as hard as you can, alright? Don't go slowly, if you can help it." Kuroi breathed out with a groan, feeling a little dizzy from the light trickle of blood that continued to ooze from her person at each passing second.

Eyeing the arrow, Kagami knew what she had to do, but was apprehensive about it nonetheless, this would be a job much better suited for Miyuki, she knew about things like this. Procedures one would have to make, dressing wounds, cleaning infections, her bespectacled friend had often discussed in theory that she may one day become a doctor, tending to the sick and wounded, it seemed a perfect fit for her Kagami mused.

Grasping the arrow firmly with both hands, Kagami gritted her teeth and clenched her eyes for the scene, yanking upwards with as much force as she could, slowly but surely removing the antagonizing little barb from the assassin's now bruised flesh, and dropping it to the ground.

"Oh god…you've no idea how good that feels." Kuroi chuckled with a grateful sigh, reaching down to her pant-leg and cookie-cutting a small bit of cloth out, and wrapping it tightly around her afflicted shoulder.

Watching the assassin dress her wound, the twin-tailed warrior couldn't help but feel that she was being a little ungrateful, while she didn't exactly agree with who the assassin was, or what she did, she more or less saved her life back there, and even if it wasn't exactly her forte, an expression of gratitude was in order.

"Thank you." She muttered under her breath, a red streak enveloping her cheeks as she lazily averted her eyes from the now glaring assassin, who only chuckled at the mild mannered appreciation.

"Sometimes assassins take lives, and sometimes they save 'em, all part of the job." Kuroi shrugged off, finishing her procedure and creakily rolling her flowing shoulder around to make sure it would still do the job. "Ever wonder why people need assassins? It isn't for random wanton slaughter, I assure you, the people I kill, I kill for a reason." Kuroi began as she stood up wearily. "It ain't like we go around slicing up sickly orphans and old ladies, the people I kill are usually crooked guards, power-hungry government officials, extortionists, rapists, murderers, in the end, even if inadvertently, it's for a just cause, right?." She continued to explain as the two began ascending the mighty climb to the looming church above them.

"Fair enough, but what if one of your clients asked you to kill someone innocent, just to make their lives better?" Kagami questioned, earning an unusually thoughtful look from the lax and playful assassin.

"There is no hate without reason, it isn't my place to ask why I kill my targets, but if I'm even being asked to end their lives, they're likely doing something wrong by default, aren't they?" The assassin responded knowledgably, being oddly open about such an extreme profession, as if she wasn't guilty in the slightest about the fact that she was paid money in exchange for taking lives, without questions.

Kagami thumbed on that thought for a moment, the sarcastic prisoner brought up a rather perceptive point, how does one determine who is innocent or guilty of a crime? Who must a person be to judge whether somebody deserves to live or die based off of the set of circumstances at hand? What if they're truly sorry, does that save them from punishment? What if they're not, can they still have redemption? While Kagami was fickle about the issues of gods and destiny, and who controlled such things, she knew that she certainly did not. Perhaps, she mused, people like this Nanako Kuroi were placed upon their dreaded earth to decide such things, messengers of the gods to carry out their wills.

"Well, we're here. I remember when I was brought here, the officials of the prison would usually hang around this church, I never got to see the inside, no prisoners or guards allowed, just those squid-headed wardens." Kuroi noted as she ran a gloved hand over the cool stained-glass door before her, brilliantly exploding outwards with bright reds and greens that seeped onto the pair's petite forms.

With a gentle heave, the doors creaked open, slowly revealing the inner sanctum of the mighty religious structure to the two warriors, and any dangers that might be lurking within.

There were Dreglings, but they didn't pay any heed to the intruders. They were cow-toed to the ground, stapled into a praying stance, beseeching the gods that had long since forsaken their pitiful existences. The shattered pews of the church lay destroyed and forgotten, growing dust next to the oddly enough lit candelabras. The stain glass windows were shattered and cracked, moonlight slipping in and giving the area a green luminescent glowing quality.

Near the altar stood a shabby man that differentiated himself from his Dregling brethren, he was still somewhat human, patches of peachy flesh still present among the decayed and rotted skin that drooped off of his half-demon form. He turned to meet the intruders, a gurgling laugh escape his non-existent lips as he clasped his hands in prayer.

"Umbasa be praised, fresh souls at long last. Come in, fresh souls, and pray with me." The man spoke to them, charismatically and filled with his god's love, even since he had long relinquished such care to his disciples. "The time is close at hand, fresh souls, yes it surely is. The Old One is at long last returning to our dissolving world, to unite us, to make us whole once more!" The man suddenly yelled, his timid demeanor shifting to that of a much more demented, fanatical quality.

"I'm guessing this is the warden you spoke of?" Kuroi asked as she removed two daggers from her nettled belt, ready to lob them into the man's head at any moment. "Then let us waste no time!" The assassin commanded powerfully, hurling the two pocket blades at the half-man.

Too out of his mind and body respond, the man barely noticed as the two antagonizing blades drove themselves into each of his hands, stapling him to the altar he stood in front of, crucifying him against ironically.

He breathed out slightly, shivering at his misfortune as the two warriors approached him, ready to finish the job and gain their freedom from this damned place. The half-man looked to the shattered roof, eyes melted into the sky where his mighty gods looked down upon him, and he basked in their glory, letting out a mumble of a cackle.

"I am sorry my lord, but it is not my time to walk by your side just yet, I am not finished expending your will upon these pitiful souls!" He cried out to the heavens, salty tears running down his face as he attempted to wretch himself free from his staples. These tears were perhaps the last shred of humanity this man still contained, his final string to be snapped before he was as one of them, a mindless, soul-devouring demon.

At his call, a golden column of light suddenly burst through the gaping hole in the ceiling, slamming onto the musty ground and halting the two warriors in their advance, forcing them to duck behind one of the many tarnished pews.

When the light cleared, the two poked their heads out slightly, beholding what was likely, the guardian.

It took the form of a woman, ravishing and beautiful in her sinned existence, she floated nimbly off the ground, six arms ripping from her gentle torso, each one holding a large decayed tome. Across her snow white skin, tattoos, not wrote in ink, but carved into her flesh, taking the form of designs and patterns of gods answering their children's call, their light in the darkness.

From her throat erupted a beautiful yet haunting melody, echoing through the dead chambers of the forgotten church, breathing new life into its musty walls and long forgotten prayers. The Dreglings that lined the area moaned along with her song, unifying their existences under their common love for the gods, and their benevolent rule above them.

As she sang her prayers, around the room began to form scriptures, green and gently glowing, taking the form of seals, inking the room in her spell.

The two warriors drew their blades, and prepared for whatever awaited them, but they would have no time to respond with a hasty dodge or retreat. Without warning, one of many seals materialized at their feet, and before either could protest, suddenly fried them with a jolting spurge of electricity that rattled them to the core, slowly numbing the two and causing the lesser twin-tailed warrior to collapse from the intense pain the shock had brought.

Kuroi could do nothing but stumble as her vision erratically blurred, and her limbs twitched like insect legs. She reprimanded herself for letting her guard down, but she could do nothing but make up for it, she unlatched another dagger from her small cache of weapons present on her person and lobbed it at the demon, piercing her directly in the stomach, but seemingly doing nothing.

As the demon charged up a strange volt of magic, Kuroi eyed her grumbling companion at her feet, and roughly, she kicked the girl in the stomach as hard as she could, sending her fumbling out of the path of bolt and causing her to crash through a nearby pew.

The bolt shot directly at the assassin, but she was ready for it this time, angling herself so it would sail right past her, and right into a nearby Dregling, messily blowing him to pieces and causing the subsequent gore to shower the area in entrails and ooze.

The demon slowly readied another, and Kuroi noticed it took quite a large portion of time to harness the energy required for the attack, that was her window. She charged recklessly at the monster, using the same tactics she had against the monument, grabbing a nearby Dregling roughly and using his savagely rotten corpse to shield her.

She had closed the gap, and tearing two more knives from her straps, she cleanly pierced the demon's clean skin, one dagger stapling her neck and the other goring her leg.

It was all she had time for, the bolt of energy suddenly exploded from the Shiva-esque arms of the demon, slamming into the meat shield and popping it like a bubble, sending the assassin flying backwards and painting her a dull red.

Finally regaining her wits, Kagami pushed her still sizzling form off of the blood-splattered ground and stood to face the demon. She wasted no time in bull rushing it and attempting to drive her blade through its heart, but found that it melted into thin air at the attempt.

Turning stance, she found that she had been fooled. Placed around the room, now violently roaring with their prayer songs, were several copies of the demon, each one staring her down. They looked identical in appearance, but that was the trick, only one of them was the real one, she just had to decipher which one that was.

"Sensei, we have to find the real one!" Kagami called out as the assassin regained her composure, stumbling upwards and tearing out a short blade, determinedly pointing it from one demon to the next.

"Right!" The prisoner responded, charging the nearest cackling and smooth-voiced idol that the Dreglings were so readily worshipping.

She swung her blade in an attempt to lob an arm off, but nothing, it only dissipated into a cloud of smoke that puffed around her, blinding her to the world. That brief moment of sight failure was all that was needed for a seal to suddenly appear at Kuroi's feet, locking her into place and cooking her overwhelmingly until she dropped to her knees in pain.

The twin-tailed warrior dodged the lightning blasts the idols flung her in direction, ducking behind a pew and covering her now ringing ears as several Dreglings were carelessly blown in every direction, arms and legs splattering at her sides as she attempted to focus on the idols, even in all the chaos.

The idols revved another charge, she had to be quick, instead of using her blade, she'd try an assault from a distance. Carefully lifting a nearby candelabra, she positioned it as if she were about to lob a spear, and mightily, she flung the makeshift weapon at one of the many idols, which by sheer dumb luck, was the correct one.

The sharp-tipped prongs of the candle thrust through the demon's nubile frame, slowly cooking her insides with the harsh flames and setting her ablaze.

The demon would have none of it, still singing madly with the same haunting force, its many arms spawned blades in their grasps, and seemingly without a thought, the demon carved itself in two, completely dismantling its lower body and causing the bloody burning pulp of former appendages to crackle and dissolve into crispy dust on its god's grounds.

"No way…" Kagami breathed out, being one second too late to dodge the seal that had been forming at her feet, that slowly but surely sent bolts sizzling through her, but that would be the end of it, her nerves shorted out at the intense rumblings she felt sprawling at her insides, her mind blacked as she toppled to the ground in a heap.

Shaking off the last few twitches, the assassin Kuroi had finally worked up the strength to stand once more, now faced with a bifurcated demon at her front, and the fake idols revving bolts of electricity at her back. She grew tired of the games this demon played with her mind; she would have no more of it.

Tearing two blades from her sizzling armor, without even sparing a glance to the fake idols, she twirled with the grace of a dancer, hurling them towards the mimics and exploding them into fulminations of dust and magic workings.

The assassin leapt with the ferocity of a lion, flying clear into the air and directly at her opponent, grabbing a hold of the floating idol as if it were a tree trunk, and driving the blade she held deep into its throat, cracking through the spine and splitting outwards, grittily covering the assassin in its black tar-like juices.

With a mighty roar of her own, she drown out the now dampening aria that bellowed from the idols throat, angrily tearing through the demons form and cleanly lobbing off her snow white head, now caked darkly in her own fluids.

As the head flew mid-air, horrifyingly, it did not stop its ear-wrenching ballad, continuing the soothing melody until the decapitated corpse fumbled downward and crashed hard onto the ground, squishing grotesquely and twitching violently before submitting to the cold death that threatened to take it.

Tired of the endless song, Kuroi swung her blade downward with the power of a mighty ax man, cleanly slicing the head of the demon in two and ending its permeating psalm once and for all.

"Where's your god now?" The assassin mumbled to the beast pityingly, giving it one final kick before turning her attention to the still stapled to the altar warden.

"You…wait, please, you must understand!" The warden worriedly called out as the assassin approached him with a blank face, bloody blade in hand and death on the mind. "It was Umbasa's will, he commanded I carry out his work, my mind and actions were not my own! Please, forgive me!" The man cried out, his lowly begging practically dripping with false sincerity.

"Then you must understand why I have to kill you." Kuroi uttered as she positioned herself in front of the cowering man, tipping the blade to his heart and preparing to give him a quick and painless death.

His world crumbling around him, the man suddenly felt warm, invigorated by his god's very being, he felt it within him, his worry was washed away with the storm of emotions that took hold of him, he would have the last laugh.

"You…" He breathed out with a giggle, which slowly but surely erupted into a maniacal laughter, echoing throughout the otherwise deathly silent church. "Umbasa has big things in store for you, assassin. What you seek, is forever beyond your grasp." He continued, his eyes shakily and erratically rolling into the back of his head, slick lines of tears and saliva leaking from his facial orifices. "You will never attain the inner freedom you so long for, assassin. You will die a haunting death, clouded in your final moments with regret and sorrow, cold and alone, abandoned! Forsaken! What awaits you is worse than the endless torment of your past you vile woman, and you shall beg for the death that has long hounded you-"

Hearing enough of the incessant babble, Kuroi cleanly pressed her blade through the decrepit shell of a man, tearing aside his flesh and piercing his heart directly, ending his mortifying life in a flash, but leaving her with questions unanswered, not that she particularly sought a revelation of death and pain.

Latched to the now dead warden's belt, was an odd-looking key, etched with patterns and designs. It was like a skeleton key near the bottom, ridged teeth, but at the top, it was reminiscent of spider appendages. Ripping the jingling object from his person, the assassin stuffed it into her pocket and turned tail, eyeing the barely conscious twin-tailed warrior meekly crawling to her feet.

"You okay, kid?" Kuroi questioned, earning a groan and a wave of the hand from her companion, she was uninjured enough to stand apparently, so it obviously wasn't too dire.

Approaching her comrade, Kagami looked down with a sigh at the terrible fate that had befallen the poor warden, so out of touch with reality and consumed by his god's love, no longer aware of the world around him, he saw only the jobs that needed to be carried out in Umbasa's will, carved into his mind like constant reminders, never letting him forget that his mind and body were but tools to his lord.

"So, did he have any keys on him? That mage didn't exactly tell me what to look for, just a key." Kagami asked as she rummaged through the deceased worshiper's pockets, feeling nothing but lint and empty space.

"…No. He didn't have anything on him, he must not have been this warden you sought, your sources must have been mistaken." Kuroi smoothly said as she rubbed her now tender and throbbing shoulder, eyeing the warrior out of the corner of her vision as she moaned at her misfortune.

"What? Are you joking me? Oh, that stupid little mage! What a moron! She made me come all this way, do all this, for nothing…she probably didn't even have a cure…" Kagami moped, dropping her blade to the ground and herself with it, vigorously pressing into her orbs to relieve the burning fatigue that was now beginning to wash over her.

"A cure? For what?" The assassin asked as she turned her attention back to her companion, but without hearing her answer, she had somewhat of an idea when she saw the infected and darkly bruised ankle that accidentally revealed itself from her position. "Oh, unlucky. A mage couldn't cure that anyway, you need the power of a miracle to heal such afflictions." Kuroi explained as she observed the oozing and pulsating wound, which Kagami angrily covered with a yank of her pant leg.

"I don't much feel like relying on miracles, I'm running out of time." The tsundere mumbled to herself, averting her gaze from the leering and nosey eyes of the assassin.

"No, not that type of miracle. A _magic miracle_, practitioners of the clerical arts usually know them, they're a sub-sect of mages, instead of focusing on the destructive aspects of magic, they focus on rejuvenation of the mind and body, healing." The prisoner knowledgably explained, noticing that the guarded demeanor of the twin-tailed girl melted away slightly, she looked so much more revealing and gentle in this state.

"And where might I find someone who knows of such things?" Kagami questioned hopefully, not really expecting the prisoner who had been locked away here for god knows how long to know the location of such a person, but she figured she'd give it a shot anyway.

"Well, a few years back I was on a job at the shadow worshiper's lands, dark place, riddled with demons and the like; it's in the high mountains on the edge of Boletaria. There was a sage who tended to the ill and depraved there…I forget her name, sweet girl, had bright orange hair, she was pretty easy to spot in a crowd." Kuroi explained as she assisted her comrade in standing to her feet once more, the latter still slightly drained from the battle beforehand.

"The edge of the kingdom? I don't have time to travel by foot that far, it'd take weeks!" Kagami lashed out at the assisting prisoner, tearing her arm from the woman and steadying herself against the nearby altar.

"Who said anything about traveling on foot?" The assassin said rather mischievously, reaching into her coat pocket and removing a small talisman, carved in stone and painted with markings of an ancient language, but before her very eyes, Kagami watched as the letters scrawled upon it suddenly re-wrote themselves into something she could understand, and at the culmination, she cocked her head curiously.

"What's the Nexus?"

* * *

**Author's Note: **Ups and downs writing this chapter, massive writers block disabled me from completing it as fast as I wished. I had a blast starting it, and ending it, but everything in the middle was handled poorly as ever, as I was in an emotional slump. Also, longest chapter yet, couldn't help myself, I do so love Kuroi, and I wanted her introductory chapter to be a doozey. I think you're probably beginning to see a pattern here, each girl gets a chapter during their mini-journeys, and each one will lead them back to the Nexus, where hopefully, they'll be able to find one another. After this chapter, a Tsukasa chapter, followed by a Konata/Miyuki chapter, then hopefully some sort of regrouping. I want to try to get the girls back together as soon as possible, but to remedy being alone, I'm slowly introducing the other girls/characters into the story for the main four to have interactions with. Frighteningly, I've written out a rough timeline of where this story is going, and it isn't even close to being finished. I'm closing in on 60k+ words and we're still in the introductory stage of this tale, and that frightens me a whole god damn lot. Are long stories off-putting to people? Apparently not, the most highly reviewed stories in the Lucky Star section are all well beyond 100k+ words, so I should rule out being long as a downside.

**P.S.** : Writing this chapter really spooked me, because of some iffy content that would have to be unloaded into the tale, religion. Yeesh, everybody loves to love it and loves to hate it, and it's the most debated thing in the universe, hopefully my interpretation of this strange religion didn't offend anyone. While I don't practice religion myself, I certainly respect those who choose to do so, and I in no way tried to offend anyone that did by making this particular religion a little whacky, it is a demon-filled hell of a land after all, the religions have to be a little crazy to match the crazy people. So please, don't take it too hard guys, I meant nothing by it, just having some fun.


	10. Solitude

**Lucky Souls**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Solitude **

"Oh gosh, ow, that's gotta hurt…" The nubile archer mumbled to herself as she squinted at the sadly humorous site before her.

The little bow-haired girl she was attempting to rescue had failed miserably in her escape, completely missing her jump to the nearby musty wooden platform by quite the margin, managing instead to crunch into an adjacent one, break through that, to the next one, breaking through that, and each subsequent one until she reached the bottom of the mine shaft, how could one be so unfortunate?

"Um, are you injured?" The high-pitched savior beckoned to Tsukasa as she lay upon the musty ground, gentle tears slowly leaking from her now red and puffy eyes at her own misfortune. She really did seem to attract foul luck, and to top it off she was completely clueless when it came to defending herself, she was surely doomed to die in this place if she continued to exist in her current pitiful state. "More importantly, are you alive?" The voice of the archer called once again, to which even the dim-witted girl could raise a brow at, if she wasn't, why would she answer anyway?

"Yes! I'm fine…sort of." She answered back, trailing off slightly as she stood on her now achy joints, dusting herself off and wiping the few looming tears on her now stained cheeks that still stingily clung to her.

"Alright, if you can move, try and make your way out of that nest! There are giant man-eating worms in those tunnels, and they spit lava from their maws!" The archer called back once more, her bubbly voice not even slightly hinting that she was worried for the well-being of the bow-haired girl, she seemed to have the upmost confidence in her non-existent skills. "If you can't…well, uh, sucks to be you! I'll hurry down there as fast as I can!" Her savior echoed down to her, disappearing from view overhead as the still disorientated girl steadfastly stood, ready to leave the area as soon as she could.

Man-eating lava-spitting worms certainly didn't want to be something she would run into, in fact, she would prefer if she didn't run into any trouble, ever, maybe the demons could just take five in her presence she figured, she bore them no ill will anyway, why were they so aggressive towards such a kind and gentle girl?

As she scanned the area, she really did wonder how such a place was formed. Just how deep did the miners go? Deep enough to meet boiling lava at the pit center of the mines, but it seemed to continue even deeper into the unknown. Whatever they had found, it must have been worth quite the incalculable sum for them to rip through an entire mountain to seek it out.

The muddy ground at her feet was laden with massive holes; likely the burrowing tunnels of the worm-beasts the archer claimed drilled their way through the area. Tsukasa didn't like insects in the first place, but _giant ones_? That _ate people_? And _spit lava?_ The thought didn't even process clearly in her mind; such a horror could surely never exist, even in the demon-ridden kingdom of Boletaria.

The nest was riddled with the bones of the dead, likely the miners, who had unknowingly stumbled upon the nest and were consequentially torn to shreds by the monstrous insects. Shockingly, it seems that the incident didn't deter their vigor or greed in the slightest, the tunnels continued to shred through the mountain walls, deeper and deeper, seemingly never ending.

As Tsukasa snail-paced her way through one of the many available miners' tunnels, lit only by the timidly glowing cave-crystals that seemed to grow hungrily from the stone walls, she heard a rattling in the distance, more foul luck it seemed.

As she approached the jingling bedlam, she found that it stemmed from more of those bulbous miners, still mindlessly tearing the jewels from the slabs in hopes of bartering them for the coin they would never receive. There was seemingly no way to sneak past the corpulent diggers, and assaulting them head on certainly wasn't an option in her case, she was at quite the impasse.

Her decision would be made for her when without warning, the claustrophobic tunnel suddenly shook violently, and sprouting from its wall like a newborn flower, one of those worm-beasts appeared, at least a dozen feet long, pale and featureless apart from the razor-sharp maw at it's beak, which excreted a dark copper magma.

The miners turned to face the new foe, only to be heaved upon by the insect, and melted into a fine pulp on the ground, sizzling and lighting the area ablaze with flame. As if to make a point that it was not to be trifled with, the worm's maw suddenly latched onto one of the still-living miners, and dragged him into the depths of its burrowing hole, his muffled screams vanishing along with him.

Peeping out a few distressing whimpers, Tsukasa could do nothing but gawk as the miners lives were shorted out in front of her. She reprimanded herself for her innate cowardice, but she just couldn't help it, while her friends were much more readily accepting of such horrors, she just couldn't handle it. Such things were unnatural to her in every sense of the word, unfit for the darkest nightmares let alone the waking world.

She ridged herself as she moved forward, her body as stiff as a board as she tip-toed over the melting messes of miner corpses, and past the tunnel of the worm, that howled with wind. To her dismay, the tunnel seemed to lead only to another nest, once again laden with the corpses of miners, the patchwork of battle. Just where was that archer anyway? She certainly wasn't hurrying fast enough, the bow-haired girl mused.

The rippling sound of cooking lava tickled in her ear, somewhat reminiscent of a boiling stew, the two were becoming synonymous it seemed, with her culinary skills, she somewhat feared a terrible ironic death of plummeting into the red hot goo.

Turning tail, she was met with one of those worm-beasts, standing tall and staring her down with its non-existent eyes, its maw bared and ready to spew the murky lava in her direction. Frozen in shock, she had to mentally slap herself to remember how her legs worked, diving out of the path of the spillage by mere inches.

As she attempted to scrawl to her feet, she felt a heavy impact upon the small of her back, it knocked the breath from her harshly, sending her flying into a nearby slab of stone with a thud.

Her blurry vision made out the worm's tail, which had paddled her with an odd ferocity. Body tingling with pain, she spurred herself to get up as quickly as she could, but it was far too late. The worm had already followed up with another whip of the tail, which cracked against her timid frame callously and sent her flying mid-air once more, this time crashing through a nearby mine cart.

Whimpering with fear, Tsukasa's now tear-smeared vision passed to her hand, which was caked in fresh blood, a loose strand of sharp wood had apparently pierced her like a nail, splitting directly through her tender palm.

She felt queasy, and couldn't help herself when she burped up a small portion of leaky vomit. Her mind buzzed, and she felt the despair of hopelessness as the great beast closed in, ready to melt her into oblivion, or eat her, or whatever it was that demons did.

What happened next, she couldn't recall, as she sluggishly passed into unconsciousness, she heard a mighty yell of something far off, which slowly closed in as a shadow in her vision. The shadow tackled the worm beast mid-air, standing atop its head and savagely shooting an arrow through its jaw mercilessly.

As the demon bucked like a raging bull, the shadowed figure could do nothing but hold on for dear life as they were slung to and fro, and Tsukasa could do nothing but surrender to the imminent slumber that took her.

* * *

"Well would you look at that, Darkmoon stone!" A sharply acute voice suddenly spilled out, ringing throughout her tender ears as the bow-haired girl awoke to the waking world once more, blurry vision barely making out a rich gleam in the distance.

The gleam in question appeared to stem from a large raw looking jewel, which was carefully placed with care into a brilliant film thin gold necklace. The necklace gave her the thoughts of chills present on her neckline, and upon closer inspection, saw that the necklace was in fact hers.

"H-Hey! That's mine!" Tsukasa peeped out as she attempted to reach for her stolen jewelry, only to feel a twang of agony burst from her jutted hand. Upon closer inspection, the tender limb had been wrapped in soft gauze, which was pattered with splotches of dried blood.

"Oh, sorry, I was just taking a look. I mean, Darkmoon! That's pretty rare stuff, it's an unnatural cave crystal that grows only in the Shadow Worshiper's highlands, how did you get your hands on it?" The still shadowed figure asked as she tossed the medallion back to its rightful owner, who feverishly juggled with it for a moment before maintaining a hold on the thing.

"Well…apparently it's my mothers. I wouldn't know since I've never met her, but my older sisters would often speak of her in stories, they said from what little they remember, my parents were very kind and spiritual people, and that they hailed from some far away land." Tsukasa recalled thoughtfully, gazing affectionately at the pendant in her palm. "They left us with our aunt when we were very young, other than that, I don't much about them." She continued now sorrowfully, clasping the necklace around her neck with a snap and turning her attention back to her would be savior. "Anyway, I never got to thank you, you saved my life." Tsukasa respectfully praised with a bow, earning only a hearty laugh from her savior.

"No need, no need, I was in the area." The veiled figure joked as she stood lankily from her kneeling position, un-bathing herself from the darkness to reveal a rather shapely young woman, her fit navel and cleavage exposed haphazardly, and a messy mop of short blonde hair placed atop her head. "I'm Patricia Martin, by the way. My friends, if any were still alive, would probably call me Patty." The archer chirped bubbly, slamming her hands to her snapped hips and readying a hero pose for what would likely be her new number one fan, after dazzling her with those heroic movies, how could one think any different?

"Nice to meet you, Patty-Chan. I'm Tsukasa." Her less than enthused fan responded with a confused smile, shutting down the eccentric archer's attempts at lofting her heroics and causing the would-be-hero to drop her to bottom with a groan. "Um…Patty-Chan, if I may, what are you doing here? This place is pretty dangerous." Tsukasa mumbled to herself, but dangerous for whom she wondered? While the bow-haired girl seemed to be nearly killed at every turn, this nimble little archer certainly seemed more than able to handle herself in any sort of situation.

"Why, I'm here for the treasure! The glory! The romance! Isn't that why you're here?" The archer known as Patty asked ambitiously with a cocked head, earning only a sway of the head from her newly met companion. "Hmm, well, why are you here?" She prodded once more, only to once again be met with silence and shifty eyes, the meeting of the dull-witted minds clamoring together in their question for answers.

"Well, the thing is. I'm not entirely sure how I got here, I was traveling with my friends and then…I don't really remember." The puzzled bow-haired girl explained as she searched for any scrap of memory that may still loom in the confines of her mind, but she drew only blanks.

The mop-headed archer couldn't help but feel pity for the sniveling girl before her, lost, alone, and afraid, she probably wouldn't last long in Boletaria, especially without the proper gall, training, and assistance. Patty could barely contain herself when her mouth ripped itself upward into a wily grin, what great super hero doesn't have a plucky sidekick?

"Hmm, I'll make you a deal Tsukasa." The archer sounded as she knelt down beside the blubbering heap of a runny nose and dampened eyes below her, placing a firm grip on her delicate shoulders. "You know I said I was here for treasure? Well, that's right. But not just any case of jewels and gold coins, I assure you. No, what I'm after is worth the wealth of a small kingdom!" She applauded as she exploded from her kneeling position, thrashing her arms in the air in an attempt to illustrate the mystery and amazement to the confused bow-haired girl.

"W-What is it?" Tsukasa asked, not even attempting to hide the concrete excitement that was bubbling to the surface, she practically salivated as the archer took a dramatic pause mid-tale for good measure.

"A sword." Patty said as triumphantly as possible, as if such a thing was the ultimate goal or prize that all treasure hunters hope to one day attain. Her one-woman audience was either confused, or not very impressed, the twisted curl of her lips was a sign of her bewilderment at the odd girl, and disappointment that the great treasure wasn't something a little more fantastic.

"That's it?" Tsukasa peeped, being an avid believer in stories and fairy tales; she would have readily believed any made-up nonsense the archer might have spilled out, no matter how unbelievable the treasure may have been, the bow-haired girl would have been dim-witted enough to believe it real.

"Er, well, it isn't just any sword!" Patty thumped, stomping her foot on the ground in a light tantrum before regaining her heroic demeanor. "It's made of raw dragon bone, and not the bones of any dragon, the _god_ of dragons, the big kahuna, papa chief, master in commander, the dragon to rule over all scale-ridden beasts!" The archer exploded passionately; arching herself as outwardly as possible to illustrate the magnitude such a discovery would bring, a tale for the ages, to be sure.

"Wow…" The bow-haired girl whispered, now fully enthralled in the babble of the heroic treasure hunter, who now had the poor girl right where she wanted her.

"That's right. I intend to claim this sword and go down in history! People will remember my name throughout the ages, Patricia Martin, the one who claimed the dreaded dragon god sword! Bow down before her heroic might!" Patty cheered enthusiastically, pulling her companion to her feet and brutishly wrapping an arm around her shoulder, ready to share the wealth and glory at hand. "The deal is, you help me retrieve this sword? And I'll help you find your friends." She offered graciously, while she cared mostly about her own monetary gain, the archer figured it couldn't hurt to help this pour soul out, besides, if worse came to worse she could always use her sidekick as a human shield.

"You'd really do that?" Tsukasa questioned suspiciously, yet mingled with her suspicion was a tinge of hope, she just couldn't help it. She wasn't the type to distrust people, she readily and naively saw good in even the most tortured and deranged souls, and this slap-happy little adventurer certainly didn't seem like an ill-natured person, she figured she'd give her a shot; it isn't like she could go on helplessly trying to defend herself.

"You bet I would, heroes like me don't just turn down weak, feeble, souls such as yourself!" Patty heartily proclaimed, making her way out of the small alcove the two found themselves in and standing at its edge, beholding the continuous dive ever downward, walls patched together with broken and crusty walkways in awful states of disrepair and disuse. "Now come on! What're we waiting for! Onward, to adventure!" The archer howled like a wolf, diving nonchalantly headfirst into the savage looking pit without a care in the world.

As Tsukasa stumbled over to the hole in a panic, she saw the girl swinging like an ape from one platform to the next, saying she was physically fit was quite the understatement, this strange happy-go-lucky treasure hunter seemed to have an unnatural wildness about her, just how long had she been alone? Humans naturally crave interaction and attention, and when alone for long periods of time, the mind can force one to create such things; it was obvious this girl longed for quite some time for her mind to be satiated in those respects. Tsukasa couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the girl, alone for so long just waiting for a friend, perhaps this is why she seemed so alive and full of energy, or maybe she was just nuts, who could tell?

* * *

"Do you need something?" A figure dampened with a light sweat asked the approaching shadow behind her. She could always tell when that witch was near, she had a horridly unnatural air about her, and it radiated from her existence, dripped off of every syllable that escaped her crooked lips. The girl could do nothing without the knowledge of her master; she was but a dog playing fetch before the witch.

"Oh, nothing too urgent, just a status report, any sign of him?" The shadowed witch asked her pet, earning only a click of the teeth in response, she knew her servant wasn't exactly ecstatic of her position, but it wasn't as if the broken in mutt had any choice.

"No. It seems he left here as quickly as he came, I'm not even sure what he hoped to gain by coming here, and this mine isn't exactly a tourist hotspot." The lapdog mused, her dry humor being lost on her inhuman master, who could only scold her with a furrowed brow, hidden behind a gold-crested mask upon her face.

"And what of the girl?" The master questioned, a shake of the head from her servant resigning her of any more probing. Her questions left unanswered, the witch departed, using a most abnormal method of traveling, a hole was torn into the air in a flash, which she promptly fled into.

Watching her master leave, the dog sighed deeply over the fate that awaited her pitiful existence if she didn't fetch, sit, and roll over when she was commanded to. Her imaginary collar tightly clung around her soft, flushed neck, a constant reminder of who was in charge, and who was the tool.

Her tanned skin was laden with bruises and open wounds, age-old scars and lash marks at her back. Her master had saved her from the groveling life of a slave, but exactly how different was her life now? She still had a master, she still wore chains physical or otherwise, she still took orders and still followed them to a key, unquestioning, thoughtlessly. She was indebted to the witch for saving her, forever sworn to loyally obey her dominating will, and while her mind was constantly filled with regret over her decision from one indentured servitude to the next, she had no choice but to obey.

She wondered what her master even wanted with the man, she wasn't really allowed to question orders when she received them, she learned that early on, painfully. It seemed the only way she would ever escape from the witch would be by death, by her own hand or by a demon's, but she was too prideful for such things, in her eyes that would mean that the master had won, and she wouldn't give her the satisfaction of being broken, she would fight until the bitter end presented itself, and then she'd take that leap with a smile.

Her burdensome train of thought was cracked when she heard a buzzing beating at her ear drums. She stood nonchalantly, dusting off her ragged and torn pants and turning tail. The mine was infested with them, but she knew not where they came from, nobody did. There were capacious and heavyset, and at first glance appeared to resemble a common pill bug, crusty, tough shell on the outside, and squishy and vulnerable on the inside, somewhat resembling a mealworm. Their shells opened like a beetle, and allowed them brief flights, which was amazing considering their insurmountable size and weight.

Because of this, the tanned-skin slave nicknamed them Bearbugs, because of their bear-like stature, and insect-like appearance. The strange chimera hybrids were among the most numerous of the beasts that monotonously roamed the flaming caverns, and while she wasn't exactly positive, she assumed that they were at the top of the food chain in this place. That was the whole thing though, they weren't entirely aggressive, one might even say docile. They only reacted harshly if struck or goaded first, otherwise they mindlessly went about their work, which oddly enough, was harvesting magma.

It didn't seem possible, but the bulbously fat insects somehow gorged on the stuff, drinking it like soup until they were full and ready, where they would then transport it deeper into the mine for unknown purposes, perhaps to feed a queen, but the slave wasn't exactly ecstatic to discover such a thing.

The Bearbug at her back seemed oddly hostile, its barbed pincers clicked and clacked quite generously, issuing a challenge to the intruder. The slave wasn't exactly one to decline such an offer, and from her back she tore a mighty spear, at least the length of her petite form.

The beast's many eyes trained themselves on the miniscule prey, and without warning the bulbous insect dropped like a stone from its levitating position, crashing hard onto the ground and sending a rippling shockwave outward in all directions.

The slave wasted no time in sprinting directly at her opponent, slamming her spear downward and using it to pole vault directly over the sweeping winds, and land her directly on the back of the shelled insect. She thrust her spear downward once more, but the hide was far too thick, she probably should've learned that by now. It bucked once at her attempt, sending her flying upwards, followed casually by the Bearbug, whose wings jetted at alarming speeds, far too quickly for the human eye to follow.

Being conveniently under its fleshy underbelly, the lapdog thrust her spear upwards, splitting into the delicate body directly. She couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat when she looked below her, it seemed the Bearbug was taking her ever higher, and all she saw at her feet was the gentle steam pouring from the lakes of magma, this was not good.

She swung herself like a pendulum while gripping her spear, slowly but surely getting somewhat of a hold onto the beasts belly, which was caked in its own sticky and slimy juices, constantly being secreted by its hundreds of diminutive legs, lathering up its bulbous form.

Without warning, the insect took a nose dive, aiming directly towards the murky boiling pot below them. She grimaced when she realized what the goop on its belly was, it was a specialized heat retardant slime of sorts, it would protect the shelled beast easily, but she'd be fizzled to dust in a matter of seconds.

She scrawled her way across its belly, grabbing a hold from one wiggling little appendage to the next until she reached the rear end of the living train, climbing atop its shell once more and shifting her eyes to and fro in search of anything she could grab onto, even a low-hanging rock would do, but it seemed she was quite out of luck.

Her throat fumed with hot juices at the very thought of what she was thinking of doing, but she really was out of options. Lodging her spear between two rough plates of the beasts hide, she tugged them apart as much as she could, revealing the snow white mealworm inside.

She placed a foot inside, her shoeless feet instantly slathered by the gooey lubricants, but she'd have to suck it up if she wanted to survive. Following her apprehensive foot was her entire body, tightly packaged and stuffed into the hide of the beast.

With what little room she had inside the tight-fitting shell, she pried the hide closed once more, praying to the gods above that this incredibly idiotic yet oddly devilish plan would somehow suffice. Allowing the slime to do its work, the fire-proof goo soon coated her entire body, and she clenched her eyes as tight as she could in thoughtless prayer, feeling the booming crash of the insect slamming into the lake of lava.

The pressure from the heat was indescribable, but she felt no pain, she looked herself over to make sure her blood wasn't boiling from her skin, yet remarkably she found she was completely in tact. To her, it was as if she was resting in the air-tight cabin of a ship at sea, crushing against rocky waves.

"Well, this sucks." The slave mumbled, covered head to toe in slime riding inside a giant insect down a river of lava wasn't exactly a scene she pictured she'd be caught in the middle of, let alone a scene that could ever transpire to anyone, ever.

She knew the goop would keep her safe in any environment, so her worry was washed away with the looming dread that began to cloud her mind, stained into her thoughts, she couldn't help but feel awry about the mission at hand. Her master was very specific, find the target, inform her of his location, and she would send her most elite to hunt him down, and end him. She held no pleasure in her job, which could be classified as something of a spy. She could deceive, use wiles, lie, trick, trap, she could use it all to lure her target out into the open, unguarded and vulnerable, ready to be taken out at her masters call.

The slave was told she may never lay a hand on the target, and that their deaths would be handled accordingly, without her worry or involvement. Why this was, she wasn't entirely sure, her master seemed almost sacred about her job, taking assignments with the upmost care and delicacy, handling and performing them as a master often does, pulling the strings of others.

For now, she could do nothing but resign herself to the controlled existence of a puppet, a tool, and a slave; she could be nothing more and nothing less. Shaking away such thoughts, it occurred to her only now that she hadn't eaten in days, her master scarcely fed her, and what little she ate wasn't exactly gourmet cooking.

Hearing a pinching growl at her gut, she nonchalantly cut a bit of flesh from the mealworms hide, popping it into her mouth with a squishy crunch. As it slithered down her throat, her eye twitched accordingly, and her face contorted into one of harsh disapproval.

"Sour…"

* * *

"What is this place?" The understandably confused bow-haired girl asked her newfound companion, who had just presented to her what appeared to be more or less, an underground city.

The mighty structures were somewhat reminiscent of ancient Roman cultures, erected from marbled stone and held together by lengthy pillars, ridden with moss and nature, which had slowly but surely eroded and consumed them. Monuments of whatever gods they worshipped seemed to line the streets, frozen in time, forever watching over their long deceased children.

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure myself. Apparently the good king Allant didn't know about this place when he carved his way down here, he stumbled upon the ruins of an ancient civilization!" Patty excitedly explained, thrusting her arms upward in jubilation. "And that's when they found it." The archer continued, stopping dead in her tracks and leaning in towards the bow-haired girl, as if god forbid any of the demons heard her secrets. "The Dragon God." Patty finished her tale expertly, allowing just the right amount of terror to ooze from her voice so that it would flow to her one-woman audience.

"W-What happened next?" Tsukasa hesitantly asked, somewhat intrigued by the wily girls tale, but at the same time wishing the archer would withhold bits of the story for the sake of her poor heart.

"Well, that's pretty much when the fog set in. Allant ordered the mine, its findings, and all of its residents liquefied, and he sealed it away from the world, he didn't have time to pursue ancient civilizations and lost secrets, the Old One was here and raring to go, so whatever treasures that lay buried in these ancient walls were forever forgotten…until now." Patty finished, whispering the final tidbit to herself in anticipation for her no doubt glory-filled future. She knew there were numerous treasure-hunters before her that had come to the lands of Boletaria in search of fame and grandeur, but she would put them all to shame if she found that sword, she would be a legend, she would be the stuff of stories that bed-ridden children would hear and get inspired by, this was her future set in stone as she saw it, and the brave archer intended for it to play out exactly as such.

While her eccentric companion was lost to her own devices and inner workings, Tsukasa was allowed a moment of reprieve as she beheld the ancient city. While rotted with age, there was something solid about it, untouched. The miners hadn't dug this deep, apparently, the city was unsoiled, likely still fat with age old riches and relics ready for the taking, and it would remain this way forever more. The bow-haired girl silently thanked to the gods above, believing they had performed a sleight of hand in assisting these resting people, so their eternal slumber in their peaceful home would go untested.

Coolly running her still tender palm against a moss-covered statue of some odd looking deity, Tsukasa had an odd moment of clarity, something some might say was a miracle for the dim-witted younger twin. The key word that imprinted itself into her mind, home, she didn't have one. People would always tell the orphaned Hiiragi sisters, home is where the heart is, or where you make it, and while that was all well and good, it didn't satiate her tickling urge to find out where she came from, who she really was.

The earliest memories she could ever force to bubble into her thoughts were nothing but flashes, glimpses of things she may have experienced, perhaps they were just dreams. Of her parents, she knew nothing, and remembered nothing. She didn't know what they looked like, sounded like, or acted like, if they bumped into her in the street one afternoon she sure wouldn't know.

Her elder sisters were often suspiciously sketchy on the details when it came to their parents, their heritage; it seemed sometimes it was even a slight mystery to them. That same ever-present and fickle mystery would loom in her shrouded thoughts as she lay awake each night, wondering about the life she couldn't remember, one that seemed more like a fairytale. She tried to piece together how she thought her parents would look, sound, and act like; she'd play out scenarios in her ticking head.

At the front of these loitering muses were the booming questions, where were they now? Were they even alive? Did they still love her? That was difficult to answer, considering they seemingly abandoned their quartet of daughters, who knows what their level of care or animosity towards their now orphaned children was. Why did they even leave in the first place? Perhaps there was a reason; it had to have been something very important to woefully leave behind ones kin, a piece of their wholeness.

Wherever they were now, and wherever the bow-haired girl really came from, she supposed that it didn't really matter. Present events excluded, she had a pretty fantastic life, a loving family, and a wonderful home, and that was all that mattered to the simple girl.

"Hey, you okay Tsu?" Patty chirped heavily into her now buzzing ear, earning only a brief pause and a gentle nod from her still half-in-thoughts companion. "Good, 'cause we're here." The archer proclaimed rather loudly, tossing her arms into the air and presenting the destination they were apparently seeking.

"Here?" Tsukasa whispered, beholding what appeared to be a massive door. It was at least a hundred feet across, and a hundred feet tall, wrought in stone and carved with ancient markings. The marks seemed to connect to one another, each ending on either side of the door at a latch of sorts. While at length it would likely appear to be just a door, upon closer inspection it would reveal that it was actually a colossal lock, but what would somebody need such a monumentally sized safe for? And how would one even go about breaching such a thing?

Unbeknownst to the two adventurers, waddling onto the rocky slopes behind them was a rather distraught slave, still laden in the sticky inner-juices of the mighty insect she had sheltered herself in. At first she cocked a brow, there shouldn't have been anybody in the mines, she would've known it, and nobody could've slipped past her ever-watchful and vigilant eyes.

"Who the hell…?" Was all the slave could mutter to herself as she took a hunched position behind some decayed debris, peeking just enough to allow herself some insight as to who might be desecrating these sacred ruins, treasure hunters was a likely guess, but no greedy swordsman ever made it this deep into the mine.

"Now I'll bet you're wondering how we open this beast. Well, don't worry, that's where you come in." Patty explained, extending her reach to her gentle companion's neck and ripping the loose-fitting necklace off roughly.

"H-Hey!" Tsukasa worriedly peeped as her most prized possession was torn from her person a second time that day, but it seemed this time the wily treasure hunter seemed intent on playing keep-a-way.

"Don't you get it? Darkmoon stone, your necklace, that's the key to opening this door! Darkmoon stone isn't natural to this area, so there's no way somebody would ever figure out how to open it, but I did, and I'm not missing my chance." Patty squeaked rather apologetically, looking oddly serious as she eyed the crest-shaped hole on the door. Ever so slowly, the austere archer pressed the dark-shaded crystal necklace inward, and amazingly, it was a near perfect fit.

Before Tsukasa could reprimand the thieving archer, her eyes were glued to her necklace, which began to faintly glow a pure white. The bleached brilliance began to seep outward from the stone, melding its way throughout the carvings, which were now shown to take on the shape of a tree, leafless and long dead. As each mighty latch began to split like thinly cut wood, the two adventurers were forced to move backward as the door was seemingly forced open roughly, crumbling open in an avalanche of horse-sized boulders.

The slave could do nothing but watch in horror as the adventurer's had literally damned themselves. They had no idea what they were getting into, and as much as she thought it was a pain to assist morons, she really had no choice.

"Hey, you idiots! What do you think you're doing!" The slave roared out, approaching the two still fumbling warriors, shaking their bodies of any dust that had clung to them in the lock's destruction. Turning their attention to the strange tanned girl who approached them, neither girl even had time to get a single syllable off before an overwhelmingly ear-splitting screech erupted throughout the dead city, rumbling the very ground at their feet.

Dead silence filled the air; the three women's gazes were drawn into the musky rubble of the now missing door, where an ominous orange glow had presented itself, gently swaying back and forth in the eclipse of sweeping fog.

"You idiots! Do you even know what you've done!" The slave erupted once more, tearing the tipped lance from her back and pointing it in the direction of the light; the two adventurer's took the hint, and tore their weapons out as well.

"Yeah, we're about to become the greatest adventurer's this world has ever seen!" Patty chuckled to the strange girl, earning only a face of complete bafflement in response.

"You don't get it do you? Now that the lock's gone the Dragon God can leave whenever it wants!" The slave tried to explain as easily as she could to the thick-headed archer.

Patty's expression of pure joy slowly but surely twanged into one of mild confusion, which continually melted into one of great horror, she was completely at a loss for words, but her bewilderment would have to wait, the ominous citrus cloud of flame finally revealed itself from the rubble of the lock, flying through the air and exploding onto the ground in front of the girls, presenting a hellish looking brute of a demon.

It was somewhat reminiscent of a bull at the head, and a man at the bottom, one would likely think Minotaur at first glance but this was not so. The only bull-like feature on the beast was the coiling horns that tore from its skull, flaring red eyes and a gaping maw of a mouth that salivated boiling magma, oozing onto the floor with a harsh sizzle. Its body was that of a man, but its hands and feet were hoof-like, and with each step the monster took, the ground took fire at its feet. It was at least the height of two men, and hunched on all fours like a wild beast.

"I can't believe this…" The slave mumbled, screaming in frustration before she charged the bull head on, bearing her own horns as she leaped into the air with the grace of a jungle cat, landing firmly onto the monsters back and driving her spear harshly into its spine. "Don't just stand there!" She called out to the two bewildered adventurer's, holding on for dear life as the stone-bull bucked backwards roughly, bellowing with a low-pitched rumble.

Turning to her companion, Tsukasa shook the fractured girl harshly, panicking when it seemed Patty was locked into somewhat of a trance. The bow-haired girl had no choice; she had to get her to safety, that came before assisting the strange tanned warrior. Latching onto the archer's hand, Tsukasa roughly pulled her in the first aimless direction that came to mind, feeling a lifting wind at her feet, she looked backwards to find that the bull had erupted into a monstrous flame, sending both her and her companion flying through the air and crashing roughly onto the ground, rolling several dozen feet like ragdolls before coming to a sudden stop.

"Crap." The slave mumbled at the seemingly useless girls, thanking the gods above that she was still slicked with the grease of the Bearbug, this would be her only failsafe during the fight with the beast whose strength was apparently rippling flame.

The bull roared once more before charging the slave head on, but this girl wouldn't be deterred, it wasn't as if she had anything to lose. She charged forward as well, pressing her spear to the bull as she closed the gap, but wasn't expecting the beast to be somewhat intelligent, it wouldn't fall for the same trick twice.

Without warning, the monster suddenly jumped high into the air, claiming the height of a bird as it gently flew upwards towards the stalagmite-laden ceiling, grasping onto one of the sharp-tipped stones and bursting out with a mighty cry, causing the pronged rocks to tumble downwards and pierce the ground.

While not her immediate concern, the slave noted the two wind-slapped girls wouldn't survive the cave-in, and decided that their safety was priority. Her gaze turned towards the downed adventurer's, and like lightning she burst towards them, scooping up one in each arm at whistling speeds, crisscrossing and twirling her conditioned body with an odd grace to try and avoid the constantly plummeting stone swords around her, which cracked into the earth and tore it asunder with each plop.

An aimless sharp stone slammed directly into the earth at her feet, apparently she had missed one, and the culminating gust of wind sent all three girls flying in separate directions, this beast was playing with them, apparently it hadn't had entertaining prey in some time. If it wanted them dead it surely would have done so immediately, it seemed to have the gall of a hunter, and the thrill of the hunt almost satiated it.

"Oh, buzz off!" The slave moaned as she stumbled to her feet, covering her face as the beast dropped itself loosely from the ceiling, crashing into the center of the wreckage and standing upon its hind legs, gruffly snorting its literally flaring nostrils in anticipation for its meager opponents next move. "Okay, okay, I get it. Let's play then…" The spear-wielder cockily said as she glazed her vision, focusing intently on the beast, she'd have to read its every movement. It was big, but incredibly agile, something that seemed to be a rather humdrum consistency with the beasts of the mine.

Tsukasa's eyes flashed open as a surge of pain erupted throughout her feeble body, shivering through her until she was sitting upward with a rough gasp for air. Her eyes horrifically moved towards her hand, which was very obviously broken, a jagged and milky white bone jutting from her snow white skin, splotching blood up and down her arm and shoulder.

Leaky tears streamed down her eyes as she moaned out in agony, pressing her buzzing head against the water-slicked stalagmite that had nearly cleaved her in two. She heard the gasps and grunts of the tanned spear-wielder as she fought the demon, and its own roars flaring back at its opponent, but she knew she could do nothing to help, she really was useless that way.

When her eccentric little blue-haired friend had propositioned her assistance that day, she couldn't even respond before her sister completely abolished the idea, refusing to place her kin in any unnecessary peril. Tsukasa couldn't argue, when her twin had something engraved into her mind, it was set, and the decision was unchangeable. And so it was that Konata, her twin, and Miyuki set out that morning without her, leaving her in the dust to go and save the day, it was then that the bow-haired girl had an epiphany.

She was weak, she was feeble, she was a coward, she couldn't fight, she wasn't smart, about the only thing she could manage was to cook up a good meal, but for every glaring fault she had, for every monstrous blunder she could name about herself, it still wounded her greatly that her twin would leave her behind, thinking she just wasn't strong enough. Her arm twisted like a noose, and her eyes bleeding with wet tears, she recalled that night, the night she'd cease to be afraid.

* * *

"You're kidding me…you followed us? Tsukasa, what did I say? You _can't come, it's too dangerous!_" The older twin had lashed out at her harshly, an odd sight to be sure. Kagami wasn't one for anger directed at those who did not deserve her wrath, and her delicate twin was definitely at the top of that list, but when she had seen her directly disobey her, something that her sister had made so crystal clear and set it stone, she just couldn't help but be upset.

"Onee-chan please, just listen!" The younger twin begged back, tugging onto the fiery tsundere's shirt with shaky hands, only for her sister to brush her off gruffly.

Konata wanted to believe that the bow-haired girl would be a great asset on their journey; she wouldn't have propositioned her to come along otherwise, but if her own sister couldn't sway the mind of Kagami, then she surely couldn't, but she could definitely attempt such a daring feat.

"Hey Kagamin-" The bluenette peeped only for a rough hand to be slammed onto her mouth in a split second, hastily silencing the girl.

"Konata, shut up. I don't need you taking her side on this, and Tsukasa, my answer is the same as it was back home, you're not coming with us, and that is _final._" Kagami commanded, leaving absolutely no room for argument, it seemed her mind was set it stone, nothing could change it. "See Konata, that's why I told you, this was all just a bad idea, we need to go back anyway to bring Tsukasa home, let's just give up the whole idea!" Her elder twin yelled in the background, her angry voice slowly dissipating, becoming drown out by the savage ringing now barraging her ears.

She was tired of it, the bow-haired girl was a simple being with simple needs, wishing only to live a safe and peaceful life, settle down and grow to old age, where she could live out her golden years in tranquility. Her crumbled fists at her sides shook with a rumble of rage, but also the booming fear that consumed her when she even thought of fighting back against her sister.

"I…" She peeped out, barely a whisper, her arguing friends heard none of it as she steadied her quaking form, trying to find the evasive center that was eluding her, she just needed to be calm and collected, she wouldn't just try to make her twin understand, she'd make her understand. "Onee-chan." She peeped out once more, still inaudible, she couldn't demand respect with such meager and docile tones, she'd need to erupt, she needed to show her friends what she was made of, she wasn't weak, she wasn't stupid, she held no fear, and she'd prove it. "Onee-chan!" She burst out violently, her squeaky voice cracking at its peak and deafening all in the vicinity, ending the hasty argument taking place in a flash, and turning all attention to her.

Her heart hammered, drumming violently against her chest as her slow breaths slowly increased into heavy panting, she felt as though she was going to faint, but she couldn't be deterred, she wasn't afraid, she couldn't be afraid.

"I'm…I-I-I'm…I'm g-going…" She quaked out, her voice as shaky as her leafy body, pressing her angled feet harder into the dust, she reaffirmed her position, her eyes met her twins, her teary-eyed and blurry vision barely making out the girls deep blue eyes, but still managing to see her wrecked reflection within them. "I'm going with you, Onee-chan. I can do this, and I'm really, really sorry, but you can't stop me!" The apparently not-so docile bow-haired girl roared out, heaving a few steady breaths as she reveled in her inner power, it felt good, confidence was something she'd have to learn if she wanted to join her friends on this journey, it would need to not only be a concept she practiced, but a physical part of her as well.

With a more or less confident smirk, she brushed past her awed friends, dumbfounded that the usually quiet and reserved little girl could even work up the courage to explode with such emotion. Watching Tsukasa fearlessly march off in front of the group, Konata couldn't help but laugh at her dumbfounded tsundere, patting her on the back as she wiped away the laugh-induced wetness from her eyes, her friends surprised her every day, and they'd surely continue to.

* * *

Tearing herself from her memories, Tsukasa's tears stopped on queue along with them, slowly crusting onto her cheeks and enveloping them in a deep shade of crimson. Her crushed limb pained her immensely, but she'd have to shirk it off as best she could. With several mighty heaves, the broken and battered girl managed to pull herself upwards, grunting all the way over to the crumpled heap of the archer next to her, sprawled into a ball and crying like an infant.

"P-Patty-Chan…" Tsukasa grumbled out, dropping to her knees and shaking the abashed girl with her well arm, earning only whimpers and sniffles from the woman. "Patty-Chan, I don't know what you did but…it isn't your fault! You didn't know!" The bow-haired girl pleaded, earning nothing but more pitiful sobs from the broken girl, the woman who was supposed to be a great adventurer may have inadvertently doomed them in her triumph.

"No, no, no, I messed up again. I always mess up…" Patty chimed more to herself than anyone, covering her face in shame and heavily sighing into her palms. "There's a reason I keep to myself, you know…I'm a danger to everyone around me, I'm so stupid." The pitiful archer moaned, obviously trying as hard as she could to wrench away salty tears that threatened to escape her, she wasn't the type who'd look so vulnerable.

"Patty…" Tsukasa mumbled under her breath, she was at a loss for sure, she wasn't really the best at consoling people, more often than not she would be the one in need of soothing. Playing therapist wasn't really in the cards either, that spear-woman could only hold off that demon for so long, they couldn't just leave her to such a fate.

Tsukasa didn't have a way with words, she couldn't easily sway peoples opinions like Konata could, she didn't have courage and raw emotion, she couldn't force people do to anything like her sister could, she wasn't intelligent like Miyuki, she couldn't show them how irrational they were acting, and that greater things were at stake, what was she good at? Where did she fit in amongst her group of friends?

"Patty." The bow-haired girl peeped inaudibly, barely catching the attention of her addressee. "Please, just trust me, I don't know what happened to you in the past, but that girl needs our help now." Courage, in her own way. "Your past must wait, we can sort it out later together if you want, and I'll even help." Intelligence, in her own way. "Now, come on! Let's go!" Raw emotion, quite unlike her, but in her own way.

Ignoring the unsaid protests from the nubile archer, Tsukasa lifted the broken and battered girl from the ground with a mighty heave, dusting her off with her good hand and grinning courageously, she was kind of having fun playing the hero for once. She tore Patty's bow from the ground, slamming it into her still quaking hands, and turning her in the direction of the action, it seems the unnerved archer was without choice in the matter.

Patty's dampened vision beheld the tanned spear-woman fighting for her life, on her last leg of energy against the beast; intervention wasn't just a suggestion anymore. The archer had her inner struggles, her tender emotional scars, and they would go unhealed awhile longer, this stranger needed her help, Tsukasa needed her help, she needed to help herself.

No words needed to be spoken between them, the archer looked to her kind apprentice, and reaffirmed her with a gentle nod, it was time to quit sulking. Like a spider the mop-haired girl climbed onto a jagged stalagmite crunched into the dirt, steadying herself and getting a better vantage point with which to assist their new ally.

"Hey, leave her alone!" Patty barked ferociously, launching a well placed arrow which homed itself directly into the scaly stone hide of the bull-beast.

The beast bucked in pain, savagely hissing with steam as it turned towards its assailant, eyeing the arachnid archer as she leapt from one stone jut to another gracefully, she really was a wild little thing Tsukasa mused as she watched the huntress.

The tanned spear-wielder couldn't take it, she knew how to defend herself, but it wasn't as if she was an expert in demon slaying or anything, this was out of her league. She pitifully thanked the gods as the bull-beasts attention was drawn from her, the bucking monster instead racing its way over to the arrow-slinger. She wasn't without honor, but she also wasn't an idiot, she couldn't win and she knew it, and especially not in her current state of fatigue and injury, she'd let these dimwits handle things.

The bull savagely tore through the lined cave rocks like they were paper, crunching its rough hide against them and sending debris flying skyward in every direction. Patty's expertly nimble leaps from stone to stone were the only things keeping her alive, but this beast wasn't the type to play cat and mouse.

The bull stopped with a gruff bellow, dropping itself to the ground with a thump and sighing extensively, just what was it doing the archer wondered? Its black hide began to boil almost, fizzle into a crimson hot coloration until its entire form was engulfed in flame, this definitely did not bode well.

A loud snort from the beast, and then a rocky explosion of epic magnitude, erupting with intense and lashing flames in all directions, completely assimilating raw stone as if it were wood on a campfire.

Patty didn't have time to dodge; the hungry flames would surely consume her as they shone in her bright cyan eyes. Her stunted reactions spelled her doom, but unexpectedly, she felt not her fiery demise, but a soft hand tug her gently to the ground.

"Tsu?" She peeped out, her mock-apprentice spreading her arms wide, wrapping them around the archer as tightly as she could in a mighty bear-hug. Clad on Tsukasa's shoulders was a gruffly-sewn cloak, in fact the same one she had received from the disheveled man, who said it may be of some assistance to her in the mine. While she didn't understand what he meant at the time, she sure did now, it was flame-retardant, a flame sponging veil.

The man could be trusted it seemed, the harsh and deadly flames consumed the girls, but it did them no harm. The thin layer of cloth was all that separated them from the gale storm of blaze that whipped around them, but it would do its job. The tornado of fire dissipated, and the bow-haired girl tore the smoky cloak from her petite form, triumphantly staring at the savage demon she had more or less one-upped, a brief victory giggle was definitely allowed.

"Tsu, that was awesome!" Patty chirped, being helped to her feet once more by her apprentice, who only nodded towards the monster in response, praise would have to wait it seemed, a hardy battle was still upon them.

The flame-lurking beast was definitely slowing down; such an assault seemed to be quite the tax upon the demon, almost painful. The rock-hide from before was rippled and cracked upon its form, oozing with sizzling blood, it seems the beast was not past ending its own life to end the lives of its enemy, how like a demon.

"Hey, help the spear-girl, I'll handle the heifer." Patty courageously proclaimed, shooing the bow-haired girl off the perch and in the direction of their wounded ally. Turning her attention back to the beast, the archer nimbly ascended to the air, launching herself directly on the scaly spine of the monster.

The huntress wasted no time in firing a well-placed arrow in each of the beasts burly shoulders, she had hatched a rather wily plan, if this beast fancied itself a riding animal, she'd make good use of that trait. Plopping to a seating position, she firmly gripped each of the impaling arrows in a hand; ready for the berserk browbeat to make a move.

And make a move it did, the rowdy monster wasted no time in kicking its heavy form to and fro, attempting to shake off the uninvited guest that had made herself at home upon its hide.

"Whoa, boy! Let's try that again, eh? Calm..._down!_" The archer gritted, pressing and twisting the barbed arrows deep into the beast, ripping apart muscle and sinew alike savagely, shorting out nerves as the wailing monster bucked one final time in the air before beginning a steady and rampant gallop in the first aimless direction it saw.

Taming this riding bull seemed impossible, but she could use its reckless nature to her advantage, it seemed the heifer would smash through anything in its path without thought, how lucky. The demon slammed through stone after stone, bits of jagged rock and crystal fiercely clinging to its face, this was perfect.

Patty eyed her resting companions. She'd need their assistance one final time if her plan was to work out properly.

"Hey! Fang-girl!" Patty chimed, earning the attention of the spear-wielder, who perked up and stood to awe at the sight before her, that animalistic girl certainly had a way with beasts it seemed. "Quick! Point your spear outward, no questions, just trust me!" The archer shakily commanded out, trying her best to relay her vague plan to her comrades while attempting to stay clung to the savage beast. The tanned warrior hesitantly complied, pressing her spear downward and readying it for whatever the nubile archer had cooked up.

"Okay…_right!" _Patty commanded to her mount, tearing her arrow-reigns in her chosen direction and forcing the bucking demon to comply with her wishes, the alarming pain it felt was too much, it had to obey, if only to stop the pain.

She led the naïve beast right where she wanted it, and without a second thought it plowed headfirst onto the forked spear, the pole-blade gored the demon brutally, collapsing into one of its blood red eyes and blinding it completely. The slam caused the fanged-girl to violently whip backwards like a ragdoll and harshly slam into a stone pillar; it seemed this plan was not without its faults.

Patty could not be deterred; she could only pray the tanned-girl was uninjured, as unlikely as that was. One last powerful wretch of her makeshift reigns was all that was needed to put an end to this bull-riding game, she gazed in on her target, a daunting cliff-edge, likely without a solid bottom for quite some time, or hopefully not at all.

Pressing forward harshly on the arrows, the brazen bull charged without fear, blind as a mole and frothing at the mouth, it aimed to skewer the miniscule prey that made a fool out of it, but its chance would be sorely passed by.

Patty stood slowly, surfing on the galloping demon and preparing herself to jump, she eyed the swiftly passing ground on either side of the demon, this was definitely going to sting.

With an ape-like leap, the nubile archer tucked herself into a tight ball mid-air and was raggedly slammed onto the stone-built ground at alarming speeds, she could practically feel her skin peeling and burning and her limbs twisting as she rolled.

Coming to a painful stop, the wind-knocked archer creakily pushed herself upwards, grinning heartily when her oddly well-thought out plan came full circle, and the mighty demon dumbly tumbled off the edge of the crag, sending it back to whatever hell it spawned from.

"Patty-Chan!" A voice rang out dully in her thumping eardrums, and glancing in its direction, she eyed her bow-haired apprentice tripping over her own feet as she ran towards her, and the archer couldn't help but mumble out a cracked laugh in response. "Patty-Chan, are you okay? Oh god, your leg…" Tsukasa mumbled to herself, running a hand over the blood-coated and crumpled appendage, that was definitely wasn't good, she was no doctor, but even she could tell without proper treatment the archer would bleed out from such an injury.

"Hey." An accented voice called out behind the two, belonging obviously to the cocky little spear-wielder. The tanned girl approached the two, and amazingly they beheld that she was completely uninjured, not even a single scratch was noticeable, she was apparently made of some pretty tough stuff, an assault like that would have easily killed a normal person.

Suddenly the spear-wielder tossed something in her direction, Tsukasa caught whatever the item was with her good arm, surveying the odd object with a curled brow. It appeared to be an herb, somewhat resembling cut flax, deeply silver in hue.

"What is this?" The bow-haired girl asked, somewhat guessing what it might be, but she liked the specifics anyway.

"An herb, what do you think? You eat half, she eats half, it'll accelerate the healing process for those battered limbs ya got." The spear-girl explained, rummaging through her pockets and unleashing a tiny medallion, shaped somewhat like a hexagon, it was carved in stone and was covered in unique markings.

"And that?" Tsukasa asked once more, helping the broken down archer swallow her portion of the mysterious healing sedative.

"A catalyst, it'll force open a portal from our world to theirs. I _am_ in a hurry, but in good conscience I can't just leave you two here to fair for yourselves in your current state, I'm not _that_ heartless." The fang-girl huffed, holding out the medallion and glazing her eyes as it shown brightly with a series of alarming flashes, culminating in a brooding and misty looking orb of light, golden in hue.

"Their world…? What are you talking about? And more importantly, who are you?" The bow-haired girl squeaked in confusion, rubbing her head harshly over the puzzling events that played out before her.

Turning to her with a wink, the tanned woman crossed her arms brazenly, a jagged grin ripped across her face, accentuating her pointed fang perfectly.

"Hmm…I guess for now you can just call me Misao. And the other world? What, you thought ours was the only one? How anthropocentric, without them our world wouldn't even exist." The spear-wielder apparently named Misao explained, presenting the ghastly door before them with a grazing smile.

Carefully supporting Patty on her shoulder, Tsukasa eyed the ominous tuft of blinding light before her, it seemed she would have no choice but to trust the strange woman, the two injured girls were definitely at quite the impasse.

Gulping down a gritty lump of saliva, the bow-haired girl steadily took a step towards the portal which apparently led to a whole other world, the very idea seemed faux to her, what worlds could possibly exist beyond her own? Whatever she was getting herself into, it certainly seemed monumental.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Even if I felt stupid writing that pun at the end, but when it slithered into my mind I just couldn't help it, it was just too damn perfect. Also, god damn I was really hard on Tsukasa this chapter, she just can't catch a break, I spose. Anyway, the chapter took me a long time to write, I know, but college is just destroying my mind and body right now, and farting out the next chapter of my story was definitely the least of my worries. Now that I'm out of my slump and back on track though, I'm all raring to go to spew out a few more chapters in the very near future. Also, new longest chapter, again. I didn't think it could get any longer after last chapter, but I was mistaken. And before you even start, yeah, Tsukasa might have been a little OOC, but guess what? This story is "Out of Universe", it isn't as if I have any examples in the show or manga which depict Tsukasa fighting a god damn demon, so I illustrate it how I feel it would play out in such a scenario, I can't make her _too_ helpless, can I? Also, Misao, awesome, besides Kuroi I was definitely anticipating her introduction the most. Also good news if you're getting a little weary of the pace the story is going, one more chapter and the girls are back together again, promise, but that definitely isn't even close to the end. Quite the contrary, that would likely be the end of "Act 1", amazing I know, but what can I say? Epic tales require epic length.


	11. Reunion

**Lucky Souls **

* * *

**Chapter 11: Reunion **

"Please let me go, I promise I don't know anything!" A gentle voice lashed back at its tormentor, whose sun-painted blade was pressed harshly into the girl's nape, ready to slide her sword down her throat like bread across butter.

"Promises don't mean much in these parts anymore, especially not from _magic folk_ like yourself!" The young girls captor snarled back, her armor clad hand stiffening around her sword ever tighter, she couldn't allow herself a bit of trust when it came to matters such as interrogation, nothing could be taken at face value, the subject would be probed and probed until the answers received seemed sufficient, and even if they truly _didn't _know anything, she had no choice but to enforce this rule.

The young mage looked downward, the cool metal of the sword clinging to her chin, she had no options but to lower herself to this little pigmy of a knight. A strict bearer of rules herself, the mage wouldn't allow callous use of her arts, and most especially not on anyone with their mind still intact.

How ironic it was, she mused, magic created only for the sole purposes of wreaking havoc and causing death and destruction, but she detested using it for these exact things. Defending herself was one thing, but outright taking a life was something she could never condone, and something she could _never _do.

Her eyes lazily returned to that of the pigmy knight, and she breathed deep, blinking hard several times to remove the intruders threatening to soil her eyes.

"I promise you, I know nothing of King Allant, and I know nothing of the situation in Boletaria other than what is already known to you. I traveled here with my companions to-"

"Likely story, and I promise _you, _that whatever you're really plotting mage, I'll get to the bottom of it. I knew that little wretch was involved in this somehow…you, knight!" The fiery little captain called to her lackey, who turned to his mistress with a formal salute. "Bring that little cretin in here; it looks like I'm not done with her after all." She spoke harshly, almost sounding a little betrayed. She had genuinely believed the young girl when she gushed to the uncaring captain about her woes, about her missing father, but it seemed to her like nothing but dribble.

Where this young commander hailed from, mages were killed on sight. The very mention of a mage could have an entire village arrested and persecuted in the belief that they were harboring one with knowledge of the dark arts, or were a practitioner themselves.

As the weeping prisoner was dragged along roughly, she could only grumble at her misfortune. Since she had set out on her journey it seemed to be one unfortunate event after the other. She thought that psychotic leather-clad warrior-woman had been the least of her worries, apparently she was very wrong.

Almost immediately after escaping the clutches of that deranged soul, she found herself surrounded by metal husks, which then apprehended her with seemingly little reason, other than that she was alive in Boletaria. Thinking about it, that probably was a little suspicious in these lands, if you were still kicking around, you probably could defend yourself, and with information like that they could stretch into any number of outlandish scenarios.

The mage was ripped from her thoughts suddenly as she was thrown harshly onto the slick stone ground, and her hands were promptly tied with rope bindings. She glanced over the squad of knights, she might be able to incapacitate them without injuring any of them grievously, but they were likely skilled in the defense of magical arts, and she'd be taken down before she could make a hasty retreat.

She resigned to her fate with a sigh; if they had actually wished to kill her they likely would've done so by now. And so she had no choice but to play the waiting game, and observe, waiting for the split second she could make a run for it.

"Hey, hey, come on, be gentle! I'm all for a little rough-play, but at least kiss me first!" A quirky yet familiar voice rung out in the mage's ears, she knew she'd heard that boisterous little squeak before; she wouldn't mistake her dearest friend's voice, and who could anyway? There wasn't a voice in the farthest reaches of the kingdom quite like hers.

"Izumi-San!" The prisoner peeped, nearly gasping as her azure-haired companion was jutted roughly next to her on the algid stone-make.

"Miyuki!" Her friend breathed back, in a tone equally as baffled. "What are you doing here? A-are you alright?" Konata probed further, her bewildered expression melting into one of joy; she had found one of her dear friends at last, alive and well, contrary to her belief with each passing moment. It seemed there was hope for them after all in this dreary wonderland.

"I'm fine, but…" Stopping herself almost on key, the mage's throat was suddenly crushed in an iron tight grip of an armored gauntlet, and before her friend could protest, the same fate befell her.

Hacking up a glob of saliva, Konata's eyes fizzled with salty tears as her larynx was compressed with an unbreakable might. Her quivering orbs met with Akira's, the puny leader of the brigade, who's cold stare ripped through her, she'd never admit it, but it almost seemed as if the diminutive little knight gave off the essence of being hurt, as though she were betrayed.

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you miscreant! You practically oozed bad news the second I saw you, just who the hell are you anyway! And what is this I see…a mage for an ally?" Akira growled ferociously, her eyes stemming with blood vessels ready to burst. "And that's not all." The knight paused, gruffly shaking the mage to and fro. "This little bitch here just got through telling me what fate befell my comrade, Shiraishi Minoru, dead! Apparently his life was claimed by one of the king's servants, absolute tripe! The king is gone! What took his place is not befitting of a title of king, and nobody in right of mind would serve that menace!" The commander screeched, once again, the scent of betrayal clung to her words Konata noticed.

Swallowing the aching stitch in her throat, Konata's hands gently took hold of her tormentor's, releasing her death grip but an inch so she could speak.

"Please, I wasn't lying! And Miyuki would never harm anyone, your friend's death was an accident I'm sure of it!" The azure knight yelled forcefully, presenting her case with as much compassion as she could, but it seemed this wasn't a trial, their defense meant nothing.

"I've had enough of this, Shiraishi may have been the most incompetent and worthless knight this brigade has ever seen, but as commander, _he was my responsibility!_" Akira finished with a squeak, and the two captives couldn't help but sympathize, while the hardened officer wasn't lax to show it, this Shiraishi's death seemed to affect her much deeper than she led on.

Releasing the necks of the two girls, they tumbled gracelessly to the ground in a heap, heaving up saliva and pressing at their burning eyes.

"Kill them." Akira sounded to her knights, turning heel to leave without a word, her frigid stare seemed so much farther off now, wherever she was, she just didn't have enough empathy to continue dealing with the stooges cow-toed at her boots.

"Wait, please, you have to listen!" Konata hollered, her eyes stapling themselves open in fear as Miyuki and herself were suddenly wretched harshly from behind, being held down forcefully by the faceless knights of Akira's brigade.

The otaku's green orbs flashed in every direction as her head was smashed onto the ground. She noticed the knight holding her readying his sword, preparing to pierce it through the back of her head. She felt her breathing intensify, she felt her heart rip off its strings with sheer pressure, the cold sweat envelop the back of her neck, she couldn't die here. Not like this, she mused, she had come so far! She didn't have time to be dead, not yet.

Gritting her teeth and awaiting the end, the frightened girl found it didn't come, and instead she found her entire body being lifted briskly off of the dirt and floating haphazardly through the gusting air. Her form rag-dolled against a nearby wall, slamming into it with a harsh thud, and crumpling onto the ground twice as hard, a sharp groan being the only form of communication she could muster.

Her eyes shifted upwards, and what she beheld she could not fathom, that drake! That scale-hided monstrosity had followed her! What luck she mused, the gods of fortune were surely smiling upon her this day! Never in a thousand years would the young warrior think she was actually _fortunate _that a mythical beast of legend was so eager to end her existence.

"It's that dragon again!" The young commander snarled, the beast had nearly killed her during their first encounter, she wouldn't allow such a shameful loss again. "To arms, men!" She chided to her underlings, who all but forgot about their prisoners and readied themselves for the battle at hand.

Pushing herself up briskly, Konata ran over to her sniveling companion, still slightly in shock at the chaos erupting around them.

"Miyuki, snap out of it! We gotta scram, now!" The warrior urged once more, pulling her bespectacled comrade to her feet and shaking her lightly, earning a quaint nod from the frightened sorceress.

The pair barely took a step before a large blade was swung in their direction, nearly lobbing off the twos head in the process. Recovering from the assault, they couldn't believe the fiery little commander still had the gall to attempt to stop them, even during such a hectic event.

"Hold it, I told you I'm not done with you yet worms!" She snarled at her escaping prisoners, only for the two to exchange glances of confusion, and then turn back to their captor with gleaming eyes, their escape was no longer in question.

"Sorry squirt, but I don't have time to be pestered by you anymore, buzz off!" Konata fearlessly roared, stomping a steel-tipped heel to the ground below her, snapping the sword below her feet upward into her hands gracefully. "Out of our way!" She commanded, bull-charging the knight and crushing her blade into her captors.

"You're making a big mistake, assaulting a knight little girl!" Akira growled ferociously, pressing downward on her hilt with all her might, causing her blade to cleanly crack through the poorly-ironed sword the otaku held and nearly break down the wielder with it.

"Little girl? You're half my size, and that's _really _saying something!" The azure knight snickered, clonking her opponent on the head gracefully with a light tap and pushing her to the ground. "It's been fun, but I gotta fly, catch ya later!" Konata mocked to the commander, nodding her head for Miyuki to follow suit.

Akira's rage only bubbled as she sat on the ground, feeling the quivering slab ground beneath her feet as the drake roared and challenged her elite knights. She watched pitifully as the two girls escaped, and concluded that wherever they ran, wherever they hid, she'd track them down.

"You can run to the ends of Boletaria Izumi, but I will find you! And I will _kill you!_" Akira erupted violently, raising her sword to the air in the oath she made to herself. "But I've got more important matters to deal with than a couple of sniveling brats…" The captain mumbled to herself, looking at the colossal air-born reptile that threatened to end her knightly career.

Coming to a breathless stop, the duo passed into the nearest room they could find, collapsing onto the floor in a heap of heaves and un-lady like coughing.

"You okay?" Konata bellowed out in between gasps, earning only a ginger nod from her gentle companion. "Good…oh boy, what a rush. Nothing like escaping a dragon-infested battleground in the morning to get the old cardio going, eh?" The otaku asked with a giggle, but her friend sure didn't show any signs of amusement, perhaps this wasn't the time.

Lazily crawling over to her friend, the warrior gently curved an arm around the mages slender neck, resting her now throbbing head on the taller girls shoulder with a light sigh.

"I'm sorry." She whispered gently, earning only a light hum and giggle from the still slightly shaken magician.

"It's alright, Izumi-San. I know you didn't mean for any of this to happen, I don't blame you." She cheerfully reprimanded, placing a tender kiss onto the shorter girls forehead, earning a few childish giggles of perversion from the otaku.

"Awesome, I just got kissed by a bombshell meganekko didn't I? This day just gets better and better!" Konata mewled, allowing herself to drop backwards and squirm on the floor in her delight.

Breathing in deeply, Konata sat up slowly; she could allow her mind to rest for the first time in days. Miyuki was safe, she was safe! She knew her friends wouldn't allow themselves defeat so easily, this demon-ridden land couldn't stop these girls; she knew the others were alright.

"Have you seen Tsukasa? Or Kagami?" The bluenette asked as brightly and hopefully as she could, but the downtrodden face of her companion didn't give her the answers she sought. Heaving another heavy sigh, she stood to her feet; she couldn't allow herself to get down. The twins were fine, she knew they were, her tsundere wouldn't allow any two-bit demon to stay her rage, and Tsukasa well…she was tougher than she looked.

"They're fine, I know they are." The moe-mage urged gently, earning a nervous chuckle from her usually brave and tough friend. Miyuki knew the twins could handle themselves, surely, but for Konata, who believed this to be nothing but a big mess she had thrown her friends into the middle of, she knew that if anything would befall her friends, she could never forgive herself.

As the bellow of the drake erupted throughout the castle halls once more, causing a light earthquake to shudder around the girls, Miyuki knew they needed to continue their hasty retreat, and quickly. She knew the knights would keep it distracted just long enough, and while she felt terrible using them as bait, they knew they had no choice.

"Come on Izumi-San, we need to go." Miyuki advised, offering her delicate hand to her groveling companion, who took it with a stern nod, she had no time for this. The longer she sat around, the longer her friends were in danger, and that was something she just couldn't abide.

Where they were in the labyrinth of a castle, they sure didn't know. The palace was less of a palace and more of a country. As the duo climbed staircase after staircase, they eventually found themselves on the apex of the untamable castle walls, barring out the world around them, this castle truly was impenetrable.

In its prime, it must've been the fear of the known world. While Boletaria was long vanquished by the colorless fog before she was born, Konata's father would often tell of the kingdom's brilliance. Its beauty was unparalleled, from its rolling snow-peaked mountains, to its grassy fields laden with spring bloom, to its dense and lush forest inhabited with wildlife most spectacular.

The kingdom was not only renowned for its beauty, but its might. While a friendly nation to its neighbors, Boletaria had come under siege many times from those wishing to drink from its cup of power, who wished to claim the golden land for their own.

To say these nations were utterly wiped out would be an understatement, to say that anyone who dared challenge the might of Boletaria and succeeded would be a lie. Under the rule of it's just and kind king, Allant the twelfth, Boletaria was nation to be loved, respected, and feared.

As the bluenette looked now at what had become of this nation, it's scorched wastelands prime with stubs of ancient trees and carcasses of humans and beast alike, it's very mountains torn and cragged asunder by some foul magic to be sure, it's skies darkened with musty and unforgiving clouds as black as any hell.

Would a king renowned for his kindness, a man whose very feet were worshipped by his people for his unparallel generosity and good nature, would such a man really be capable of destruction and death on such unfathomable scales?

As her friend gently probed her out of her silent trance, Konata only mused that such questions weren't worth asking, what was done was done, and whether or not this kingdom was once beautiful, whether or not its king was once kind and just, these things were not so anymore.

Feeling a burst of wind behind her, the bluenette couldn't help as she bellowed out a groan, she was all too used to sudden gusts of sharp air by now, and it only meant one thing.

Far to the sky the duo noticed the drake, still making its rounds around the castle, but this time luckily, it didn't seem aware of the girls' presence.

"Guess those knights couldn't hold it off after all…" Konata grumbled, looking to Miyuki and noticing her abysmal expression at the comment. "B-But, I'm sure they're fine, yeah? That little squirt is pretty tough; she saved me from that dragon you know, twice in fact!" The azure knight reassured, knowing all too well that in the short company she shared with the fiery commander, she wouldn't allow herself such an unworthy death.

"We should continue before it catches wind of our presence." Miyuki muttered gently, and with that the two decided they'd better keep it moving. Staying in one place too long seemed to attract trouble of a most foul and otherworldly nature.

Konata had accomplished what she set out to do, all missions were on hold until her friends were safe, but the one thing the Monumental and the blinded-maiden had neglected to inform her about, was how she went about getting back to the Nexus.

She remembered unfortunately, how she had gotten there the first time, but wondered if those same rules would apply. But how could she die? She was dead wasn't she? The Monumental was quite vague when it explained the limbo she found her life at the center of, neither living nor dead, simply trapped in between the two.

Can dead people even die, she wondered? She knew she could definitely still feel pain, so perhaps she was still alive after all, but either way, she wouldn't attempt anything dangerous in an effort to find out if that's how one returned to the nexus, dying a second time wasn't exactly something she wished to experience.

She thought of questioning Miyuki about any knowledge pertaining to her situation, but knew her inquiries would be met with nothing but blank stares and confusion.

Reserving the outlandish interrogations to her own mind, the otaku could've sworn she heard some rather antagonizing calls coming from below. And allowing herself to gently lean over the side of the castle wall, she saw a small legion of brothers in arms, led by the squirt captain.

She smirked silently to herself, knowing they'd be alright at any rate, that little harpy wouldn't allow her rag-tag band of gremlins to go down to some flying chicken with scales.

Her smile was washed away as she noticed they weren't out of the fire yet though, their troubles had only begun. A spear the size of a tree trunk suddenly exploded out of the large opening before the knights, literally tearing several of the knights to ribbons, from the girls' height, it appeared as though they were popped like tomatoes.

Before the duo had a chance to pass a second glance at the scene, another of the large spears suddenly ejected its way from the castle's hull, but this time it launched itself directly upwards in their direction, and the bluenette wretched herself from her frozen state with but seconds to spare, tackling the sorceress to the ground and sending them both rolling into the collapsing roof.

"Ah crap, you're kidding me!" Konata cried out, feeling her entire body slip and slide down the collapsing wall, only for a firm grasp to suddenly clasp over her fragile hand, yanking upwards with all its might.

"Hold on…" Miyuki muttered gently, squinting her eyes and gritting her teeth mightily, she summoned as much strength as she could, but it was no use. She felt the ground slowly begin disintegrating behind her, and without warning the stable stone-make underneath her feet suddenly gave way, sending the duo plummeting hundreds of feet to the ground.

"Crap, crap, crap! Miyuki do something!" The azure knight squealed, wrapping herself around her friend mid-air like a bear on a tree.

"Don't worry, I just need to…" The mage croaked to herself as she attempted in vain to center herself, but she didn't have the time. There were plenty of things she could think of to save them, but none of them she could calm her mind enough for. Without a confident, and able mind, magic of any variety, be it sorcery, or clerical arts, couldn't be performed.

This was the great irony of the art, as such a rule would demand the mind be stable in any given situation, and in any situation where magic would need to be used, the mind is anything _but_ stable.

But the sorceress Miyuki was anything but a feeble student, she was well versed and well trained in the dark arts, and she knew better than to lose her cool in a situation such as this.

She had a special ritual reserved for such times, it could calm her in even the most hectic of situations, it would allow her to breathe, and not stifle and gasp, it would allow her to dream, and not be tormented by nightmares. It would allow her to live, without the constant dread of death looming not far behind.

Her eyes jerked and shuttered slightly as she allowed herself to be taken, taken to a place far away from her troubles, a utopia where she knew nothing but peace.

Her orbs flashed open once more, but she was no longer in Boletaria. Her death was no longer imminent, her mind, no longer in pain.

What she saw was the only thing she ever desired, the only thing she ever cared about, the only thing she ever needed in her simple and inconsequential existence. Her friends, with their gentle smiles and hearty laughs that she cherished so. Her home, a destitute cesspit of crime and poverty to the rest of the world, but her own personal garden of Eden. And her mentor, long since vanished from her life, the only one she could ever claim as family.

With a confident smirk her trance was no more, and the grey and dreary pallet of Boletaria washed over her senses once more.

A thrust of the hand was all it took, and like a passing breeze the girls' vertical descent was suddenly abated with a screeching halt, and their limp bodies hung delicately mere inches above the slab-stone ground.

Releasing her hold over their frames, Miyuki unclenched her wretched fist, allowing the duo to plop gently onto the dusty ground.

Slowly standing with a spurt of giggles, Konata couldn't contain her exhilaration any longer, hopping up and down and slapping her friend on the back harshly over and over.

"That was amazing, Miyuki! Absolutely amazing! How do you maintain your grace and beauty and yet be such a bad-ass as well? I just don't understand, maybe if I did I'd have a body like yours, able to kick somebody's face in while still lookin' fine." Her friend peeped at her shamelessly, giving her rump and bosom a gentle tap and squeeze as she spoke.

Usually Miyuki would make a light fuss about such perverted antics, but that spell had really taken it out of her. She had never attempted levitation spells before, the sheer energy it drained from you almost made them nigh useless, except in said situations such as these.

Feeling the light tinge of flightiness wash over her, she could only shudder as she felt the slick droop of fresh blood leak from her nose, and before long, a slight trickle ejected from her mouth as well. It seems the damage sustained from her spell was not external, but within.

The mage wasn't one to make others worry, especially her dear friends, and so gracelessly smeared the goopy excrement onto her sleeve and turned tail to face her praising friend, who continued to childishly revere her as a hero.

The bluenette's praise was halted with a low-toned whooping sound that echoed throughout the area, the duo were not alone in this new pit they found themselves trapped in.

Abruptly a large spasm took place below their feet, the very earth seemed as if it was about to collapse in upon itself. Would they be so unlucky as to experience a second cave-in?

The vibrating sensations Miyuki noticed, seemed to stem not from below but above. And following her gaze ever higher, she beheld a most alien sight.

The spectacle seemed to be something straight from a children's book, the mysterious enigma that lurked in the dark that the hero's must face, but what author in their right of mind would allow such a horrifying looking beast to be beheld by children?

The putrid abnormality could only be described as a bearish ball of tar, secreting goopy unknown substances from the inner mass, which externally beheld naught but an array of golden shields, each plastered with the seal of Boletaria. In between each defensive point, a tipped spear with the girth of a tree trunk, it seemed that in this respect, the creature was almost like a fortress, constantly in battle formation.

Scholarly in her own right, Miyuki had read of this battle formation before, it was an ancient battle stratagem, used by armies who knew that numbers were not on their side, and therefore defensive tactics would have to be of the essence. They called this ancient technique, a phalanx, where a wall of shields would be placed in front of a line of spears, allowing the warriors in the back to assault while those in the front defended.

The tar-like phalanx suddenly drooped incautiously from the musty walls, allowing itself to plop clumsily to the ground with a squishy and grotesque thud.

"You've gotta me kiddin' me…" Konata breathed out, dismissing her blade from its sheathe and taking a hardened battle stance, distinguishing Miyuki out of the corner of her eye taking a stance not unlike hers, but with a strange catalyst clasped gently in her palm. "What's that?" The otaku questioned thoughtfully, earning a brooding smile from her companion.

"A gift from a friend." Miyuki prudently exclaimed, a heart-warming smile wrought across her tender face, she knew she'd use the gift well, she wouldn't allow misusing it, such a thing would be a disservice to the man who bequeathed it to her with his dying breath.

Shrugging off her friends comment without probing further, the azure knight trained her gaze on the matter at hand, the bulbous sack of puss and weaponry that threatened to snuff them out.

"Izumi!" A shrill voice suddenly erupted, and the otaku could only smirk at the call of the harpy commander, she'd rather have the little lioness at her side during such an encounter anyway.

"Akira! Hey, just in time! I thought you were gonna let us have all the fun!" Konata cheered back confidently, eyeing the captain and her brigade slowly surround the muck-beast.

"As if you little cretin! Why don't you stand back before you hurt yourself? Let the professionals handle this!" Akira boisterously cackled, thumping her tower-shield on the ground several times and earning a series of snickers and hoots from her loyal followers.

"Funny, I was about to say the same!" The bluenette mocked back, but the captain took little amusement in the back and forth jabs, she had a job to do, she truly had no time to waste on the snarky little half-wit she found herself at odds with.

"Enough, show these cretins what the Kogami brigade is made of!" Akira broadcasted as animatedly as possible, and if Konata didn't know any better, she could've sworn the young knight resembled the heroes of the many books she gorged herself in so often at home.

Akira wasted no time in charging the gelatinous mess of a creature, swiping her ironed blade to and fro in vain, hoping somewhere beneath all the goop was something that could be harmed.

Her blade was suddenly sucked from her hand into the formless ooze, and a duo of spears were swiftly jabbed in her direction, but the expansive shielding offered by her thick tower shield saved her expertly, as it so often did.

The brigade swung their weapons at the beast as well, only to have them engulfed into its pit and promptly have the enormous bayonets heaved in their direction, skewering some of the less fortunate knights, and sending the others flying in every direction from the sheer force of the wind during the lighting quick strikes.

"Come on, we need to help them!" Konata encouraged to her friend, strengthening her resolve the best she could as she charged the heaving blob head on, followed closely by her magical ally.

She began with a downward slice, followed by a horizontal slash, a light hop backwards, leading into a thrusting jab! She recalled the workings of the blade as the steel cleanly slid through the gaping holes it made in the ooze beast.

What little she knew of the blade, she learned from her father, what he knew and where he had learned it, was a mystery. He had taught his daughter that any weapon, no matter how powerful, is useless and powerless in the hands of an unskilled wielder. The weapon was only the catalyst of your might, but the will needed to usher said might was something one had to do on their own.

Of course, properly swordplay was important; technique and balance were required in both offensive and defensive stances, even a skilled warrior could be cut down by a poorly skilled and sloppily-formed assailant if one mistake was made.

Your weapon was there to make up for your faults in battle he had told her, if you were short and stubby, perhaps a longer weapon like a spear, if you were tall and lanky, a shorter weapon like a dagger might be more suited to your tastes. You had to find the perfect balance, your weapon had to become an extension of you, sewn into your hands like patchwork, it had to feel as if without it clasped valiantly in your sweaty and burnt palms, you were naked.

The azure knight finished her swordplay with a twirling slash, cleaning dissecting a large glob of the beast and sending it tumbling in an aimless direction. She couldn't help but allow a shameless grin to envelop her face as the glistening tar shown beautifully on her blade, and her emerald eyes to gaze at the writhing lob of fleshy paste several meters behind her.

She watched as it wriggled within itself for a moment before slowly slumping upwards, and as if from nowhere, a glinting copper shield and a mighty lance were thrust from its ooze. Even surprising herself with her thoughtfulness on the sight, she found it akin to that of the myth surrounding worms, being that if the worm were somehow bifurcated into separate parts, each part would grow into another worm.

"That's probably not good." The warrior maiden breathed out with another mighty swing of her blade, disconnecting another slab of goop and sending it off in another aimless direction to multiply as it seems the miniature phalanxes did. As she watched the mini phalanx, she couldn't help but notice in the heat of battle, one of Akira's bumbling knights stumbled into a nearby torch, causing it to engulf the mini-ooze creature in a furnace of pain, sizzling it into a fine murky paste on the ground.

The inner machinations of the otakus mind clicked into place, and she turned tail to face the only one she knew could blow stuff up in a series of fire-related spells and sorceries.

"Miyuki! Torch the little ones, we'll handle this big bastard, alright!" She cooed to her companion, who gave an affirmative with a thumbs up.

Miyuki separated herself from the heat of battle, slowly dropping to her knees steadily, and firmly place her hands onto the oily ground beneath her.

She couldn't help but grunt slightly as she felt the pulsating veins on her forehead and wrists wriggle beneath her creamy skin, ready to burst from pressure. She knew this would take it out of her, she had used far too much magic on one day for her own tastes, and this would be the coup de grace for her performance if she wasn't careful.

Expending her power in bursts was the key, and feeling her pulse suddenly stop on cue, her eyes flashed closed violently, and her palms writhed in pain as a large surge of frothing flame exploded from them, hurling two chains of fire in separate directions.

Each tendril of flame collapsed onto several of the mini-phalanxes that attempted to assault the knights who were preoccupying themselves with the host creature, cooking them to a sound crisp and ending their mortifying and brief existences.

"I thought I told you to leave this to the professionals!" Akira reprimanded the duo mightily, only to suddenly have a tentacle-like protrusion wrap itself around her leg and whip her to and fro mid-air.

"Ha! I've read enough eroge to know where this is going! But seriously, Miyuki, save her!" Konata commanded with a laugh, her friend still placed in her magical trance, but allowing herself an affirmative nod.

Another series of broiling tendrils erupted from the ground, wrapping themselves around the budding branches of the phalanx and melting them into a bubbling mess, freeing the magenta-haired knight within their sticky grasp, sending her tiny frame falling to the ground with a crunching thud.

Still slicing away at the mass of tar, Konata barely noticed that several of the massive spears were readying themselves to staple the young captain to the floor, and she had no time to lose to one up that little she-devil one last time.

"Miyuki! Cast a spell underneath me, rocket me across this sucker!" Konata huffed with a heave of her blade once more, almost hearing her friend battle herself in her own mind over the foolishness of such an endeavor, but knowing she'd make it so anyways.

Without warning, an eruption of smoke and flame ripped its way out of the cragged ground and rocketed the young warrior clear into the air, blasting her in an arc over the sludge demon and sending her crashing directly in front of the out of commission commander.

Tightly rolling into a ball was all Konata could do to take the brunt of the crash, but she could still feel her bones bruise and twang with each crash and roll, and standing up she couldn't help but shudder from the jittering pain erupting through her system at that moment.

Shaking the pain from her timid frame, the otaku sliced her blade horizontally as far as her miniscule arm-reach could manage, but it was more than enough to lob off the steep-tipped points of the rigid spears and save the life of the young captain.

Turning to Akira with a confident smirk, the bluenette hoisted the girl up by her arms, noticing the crimson blush that had enveloped the face of the little warrior.

"Don't think this changes anything." Akira grumbled thanklessly, scooping up a random sword at her feet and bowing it at the demon.

"How cute! You even have trouble thanking people; you've got yandere written all over you!" The otaku squealed in delight, only for the knight to callously step onto her tender foot with an iron stomp of her metal boot.

"Don't mock me damn it! I could have you arrested for such a thing!" Akira growled relentlessly, earning a confused grin from her would-be ally.

"What happened to killing me? I thought you made it pretty clear next time we met I'd be dead." Konata cooed back, recovering from the sudden and violent outburst that had nearly been the end for her poor toes.

"I…_shut up damn you!_ I've got more pressing matters to attend to than to argue with the likes of you!" The captain growled, turning her attention towards her battle-stricken knights, putting on the most confident and commanding face she could. "All of you listen to me! Have that mage light your weapons aflame, this beast sizzles like ice before it!" Akira instructed to her underlings, earning nods of recognition from the faceless knights.

Making their way over to the trance induced sorceress, each one nearly heaved at the thought of allowing her to live a second longer, or even worse, allowing the little cur to assist in any matters pertaining to them, but their commander's word was law, and they feared her far more than they feared any practitioner of the dark arts.

Each knight placed his or her weapon in the mages hands, and one by one, the blades, spears, and battle axes were lit aflame, causing the expertly crafted weaponry to glow a dull red in the hands of their wielders.

"Heh, not bad squirt!" Konata joked; rubbing her hand carelessly on the captain's head, another close encounter of the toe-kind was likely at hand if she kept up the incessant mocking.

"Have your mage direct her flames at the host of the beast, see if she can't blow it apart, separate all the smaller ones from the host!" Akira directed uncaringly, realizing the little blue-haired cretin wouldn't exactly let up with her snarky comments, and deciding to just roll with the punches.

"Right! Miyuki, you heard the squirt! Blast this thing into oblivion!" The azure-haired knight hooted excitedly, watching as her magical friend's entire form began to glow a dull orange. "Oh man, you might wanna back up a bit." Konata motioned to the captain, who instructed the same of her knights, the group allowing Miyuki enough space to work without getting in the way.

As the sorceress felt her pulse fade once more, she knew this spell would take it out of her. She had never attempted to release this much excess magical power with one strike, and she was slightly apprehensive about it. Every time magic was used, the host performing said sorceries had to expunge some of their life force and mold it into a raw power, which using their body as the catalyst, could be used in all manner of ways.

Miyuki knew allowing her body to take the full force of the spell would surely kill her, without a doubt it would, and so she aimed the double-helix wand the brave knight Minoru had given her at the gaping maw of the Phalanx, ready to send it back to whatever hell it was spawned from.

Her pulse suddenly sped up again, thump after thump, her heart thrashing around in her chest as she attempted to channel most of the power into the catalyst in her hands. Would it be enough? She could pray it would, because as she felt a slight trickle of blood gurgle out of her ears, she knew she couldn't turn back now.

Without warning the crystal wand in her hands suddenly shattered into a thousand glistening shards, slicing her hands to bits as a globe of fire the size of an elephant erupted from the magical device, slamming harshly into the Phalanx and literally blowing it apart, sending hundreds of mini-phalanxes flying every which way, sticking to the walls, crashing into one another and right into the trap laid by the knights.

"Now!" Their commander ordered, lighting her own blade aflame and charging the legion of squishy demons, her loyal and brave brigade at her back.

Konata couldn't help but wish to join them, she felt that itch, her adrenaline coursing through her young veins, she couldn't deny she felt alive in the heat of battle, when her life and the lives of others were on the line, she had never felt so alive.

But her gaze drifted to Miyuki, collapsed into an exhausted heap on the ground, no longer conscious from the toll the spell had placed upon her. The bluenette was no fool, she knew of the detrimental effects the soul arts had on the body, and she could only silently thank her friend as she approached her sleeping form.

Tenderly she removed a convenient cloth from her chest pocket, dabbing it at the leaking facial orifices of her dear friend, cleaning the fresh blood that threatened to gloss over her beautiful face.

"Thanks Miyuki, but…you didn't have to go _that_ far! Ya damn near killed us too." Konata chuckled, gently lifting her friends head and cradling it on her lap, watching as Akira and her knights did a little cleanup work on the remaining shuffling little ooze-piles.

Looking downward at her cradled friend, Konata could only gently shake her head with a light sigh. Her friends were willing to damn themselves and follow her into this mess, and she repays them like this, having them fight for their very lives, 'til they collapse with exhaustion, to further her needs.

"What right do I even have?" Konata questioned herself with a somewhat melancholy smirk, hearing the iron clomp of Akira slowly making her way over to the resting pair of girls.

"While I feel it is my solemn duty as a knight to a kingless nation to cut the two of you down right here and now, I find I cannot after your intervention, we would have surely died without your assistance." Akira ended on a whisper, sheathing her blade with a click and kneeling down to the sleeping mage. "Will she live?" The captain wondered hopefully, earning a steady nod from the otaku.

"Yeah, Miyuki's a tough gal. God wouldn't let a fine pair like this die at such a ripe age anyway; he'll wait 'til she sags a little." Konata playfully prodded, pressing her palms into the slowly rising orbs on her friends lightly heaving chest.

On that note, the commander turned back to her knights as they hacked the final few phalanx bits into smoldering chunks, raising a hand into the air as a motion to follow her.

"Finish up quickly! We have to move out, I want to be at the inner palace by sundown maggots, do you hear me!" Akira roared violently, the gentle personality that had over-taken her but a second go vanishing in a tirade of screeches.

Noticing the bluenette balance the mage twice her size on her petite shoulders and slowly wobble to her feet, Akira couldn't help but sympathize in their pathetic state. Perhaps the two miscreant wanderers weren't such bad folk, but her oath as a knight still outweighed any affection she felt for the two.

"Do know that if I ever see you again, I won't hesitate, next time we meet your lives are forfeit." The puny knight apathetically claimed, her steely gaze meeting Konata's and locking to it.

"Heh, I'd be insulted if you didn't." The azure knight confidently proclaimed with a bow, turning to the whipping sound of wind at her back, noticing an enigmatic golden glow beginning to form in the air from seemingly nothing. "But that'll have to wait, looks my ride decided to pick me up after all." She whispered as she turned to face it, feeling her body slowly but surely fade from the plane of existence she knew so well, and sizzle into fulminations of dust and sparks.

Turning tail at the most unusual zipping sound, the knight Akira couldn't help but rub her chin in frustration, the duo of criminals were gone, naught but a smoking onyx ground where they had stood.

"What the he…? Where'd they go?"

* * *

"Welcome back." That grotesquely familiar voice rung out in Konata's ears as she slowly became aware of her surroundings, feeling her body return from whatever plane of existence it had just found itself in, returning to the world she damned every time she opened her eyes.

Her gaze was met slowly with that of the blinded maiden's, it seemed that the calculating little prophet could be trusted to some measure, she had after all, led her directly to Miyuki with little trouble.

"Yeah, hugs all around. I 'spose I should be thanking you, but I won't. Not until I have Kagami and Tsukasa back." Konata groaned with a sigh as she slowly lowered her still sleeping friend to the cold ground, feeling a twang in her ear as the maiden let out a most unnerving chuckle.

"The twins? Why, then I should think you'll be showering me with praise rather soon, they're just about to arrive." The maiden abstrusely asserted, waving her hand in the first aimless direction she turned in, and in said direction, a bubbling golden aura suddenly made its presence known.

"What…?" The azure knight whispered harshly, confusedly glazing her eyes over the spectacle and beholding several forms make themselves known from the crack in space time.

The first was that of a tall young woman, probably around her age, her body was nubile and toned in all the right places, and upon her head a dusty mop of golden locks. The next intruder from another dimension was a shorter girl; her skin glazed a dark tan, and her dull yellow eyes gleaming with exhaustion. The final girl to escape the wafting light was none other than Tsukasa, dirty, a little injured the otaku noticed by the holding of a battered arm, but safe and sound.

"Tsukasa!" Konata suddenly blurted out, running over to her timid friend and crushing her in a mighty bear hug, to say that the younger twin was confused would be an understatement.

"Kona-Chan? What are you…? " The younger Hiiragi could only babble out incoherently between the storm of giggles and squeals coming from her blue-haired friend, still wrapped around her tightly.

Before Konata could continue her blithe ruckus, a sharp whistling suddenly rung throughout her ears, and turning tail, an equally shapeless and radiating golden aura made itself known, the bluenette couldn't contain her excitement as her face furrowed into a wily curl, she knew what was coming next.

Space and time cracked the air slightly, and who stepped out of the light first she couldn't discern. The figure was a tall and lanky woman, beautiful in her own right yet somewhat sloppy looking, her long golden hair was tied into a long thin pony-tail, and her body was clad in a fierce looking leather outfit. The final infiltrator into their dimension was none other than the woman who made Konata's heart throb, the one who made her feel so lowly, so human at the very sound of her name.

"Kagamin!" The azure knight cried out, feeling a lump swell in her throat as she charged head long at the girl, crushing her head into the older Hiiragi's neck and sending the two toppling over onto the hard ground with a thud.

"Konata!" Kagami breathed out with a confused laugh, taking hold of the girl's shoulders and shaking her gently. "Where were you? A-Are you okay, what happened!" The tsundere questioned lightly, her smile only growing more as she looked around her, noticing not only Miyuki, but her sister as well! What good fortune had she found herself in? Had she died and gone to heaven? Was this even real?

"You…" A voice suddenly rang out amongst the group, coming from the tanned skin woman standing near Tsukasa, her gaze directed at the pony-tailed assassin across the room, who at first squinted her eyes, but she too quickly took on a defensive and steely gaze.

Before anything could be said, the assassin suddenly wretched a blade from her coat, hurling it in the direction of the fanged girl, but missing by a large margin in her weakened state.

"You've gotten sloppy, granny!" She heartily growled, removing her spear and pointing it at the assassin with a wink.

"You shut your damn mouth…!" The attacker hissed, dropping to a knee and holding her throbbing arm, it seems she had lost far more blood than she anticipated from that rogue arrow that struck her so harshly.

"Hey, isn't that…" Another voice rang out, this time extending from the nubile archer with the mopped haircut, and she couldn't even begin to hide her rage as she noticed a clump of tender pink hair on the ground, extending from a sleeping mage. She knew this mage, she couldn't ever forget that face, not in a thousand years could she forget it.

The darkened archer suddenly removed an arrow from her quiver and lobbed it without a thought at the dreaming sorceress, only for the threatening bolt to be taken in brunt by a gust of wind and magic workings, it seemed the 'sleeping' mage had awoken, and not a moment too soon.

"I…why are you…a-attacking me…?" Miyuki coughed out softly, still attempting to get her bearings and catch her breath, just where was she?

Pulling herself from her tsundere's arms, Konata stood with a gruff and a yell, grabbing everyone's attention before things began to spiral even further out of control.

"Just what the heck is goin' on here!" The otaku moaned in frustration, looking back and forth between the confused faces of the crowd, half of them steeling death gazes in one another's directions.

"My, my, how interesting…" The blinded maiden spoke to herself wickedly, turning to leave with a shrug as the rambling group figured themselves out amongst one another, she didn't feel it was her place to intrude on these seemingly personal matters.

At the sound of arguing and yelling, the maiden could only lightly sigh and grip at her now aching chest, lazily coasting her gaze to the forever climbing staircases that aimlessly crossed one another haphazardly.

"Sojiro, _these _are the saviors of this world?"

…

…

…

**Part I End…**

* * *

**Author's Note: **Greetings readers I no longer have, it is I, your god king. This story wasn't updated for a very long time as you may have noticed…blame college is all I can say. Last fall when Dark Souls came out I suddenly had the urge to write again, but found there wasn't any time. Well guess what? I got FIRED! Yes, that's right, fired, I'm now unemployed. Not only that, I graduated Jr. College and can finally go to a REAL college. However, this won't be for several months, and as such, I literally have nothing to do in the mean time. Because my friends have lives, jobs, girlfriends, and I have none of this shit, I'll be glad to serenade you once again and lead you into a false sense of security. Come with me once more, as I lead you into my world of terrible writing. This time, I'm here to stay!


	12. Purpose

**Lucky Souls**

* * *

**Chapter 12: Purpose **

"When I get my hands on that little…oh ho, the gods themselves won't be able to save her!" A vehement echo raged throughout the ghostly silent chasm, reverberating its fuming essence into the ashy sky.

The childish acrimony stemmed from the haughty knight who dared to believe she could tail her kin into these abhorrent lands of demons and woe. She wanted nothing more than to find the little rodent, and drag the wily girl back by her azure mane, kicking and screaming were preferable.

It had been eight days since the brave knight's small village chanced upon this tragedy, in addition to one Sojiro Izumi, four young girls had also vanished without a trace from their humble dell.

It only took the captain of the guard a day to find out that not only had the foolish old man made a journey to the fallen nation of Boletaria, his equally foolish daughter had gone after him, with the assistance of three other local girls who were often seen in the company of Izumi's daughter.

As the teal-haired captain rocked steadily on her trusty steed, her glistening eyes could only grow at the sight laid before her as she came upon the ridge of a butting cliff. There it was, the damned kingdom of Boletaria, wiped out by otherworldly creatures so many years ago.

The apocalyptic backdrop did nothing to whet her appetite as she stood silently and surveyed the endless wastes, this would be a bit harder than she had anticipated.

The death and decay didn't exactly put her at ease when her target flashed into her mind, were they even still alive? How could four girls, barely women, who had never been made to experience the heat of battle, the rush of death all around them, how could such creatures survive given the circumstances?

But this captain knew better, she knew her idiotic little cousin wouldn't allow herself a death befitting a cockroach, she knew her kin wouldn't stop until she found her father, and the captain knew she wouldn't stop until both were brought home safe and sound.

"You are in _so much trouble you two!_" A barbarous and bloodthirsty call rung out amongst the annihilated kingdom before her, one Izumi skulking around such a land was bad news enough, but two? She didn't have any time to lose, and with a tug of her horse's reigns, the commander of the guard, Yui Narumi, charged headlong into the desolate badlands of Boletaria.

Wherever her family was, she wouldn't rest until they were safe at home.

* * *

"Boletaria, an acreage of death and destruction to all who dare to tread on its rotten soil. Terra incognita to us, but home sweet home to the assembly of demons that dwell in its darkest corners, just waiting for the opportunity to annihilate us. But little do the foolish archfiends know, we've got a little secret weapon on our side…something no adventurer's party is fit without, nay, something no adventurer's party could _survive_ without! And that ace in the hole, that hidden blade, that-"

"Konata, who are you talking to?" An abraded voice questioned to the plucky little otaku, who had been faintly mumbling to herself for the better half of an hour, twirling her arms to and fro like some psych ward patient. Her companions had saw fit to simply leave her alone, they found it best not to intrude on the inner devices of their eccentric friend's mind, best it be left up to mystery.

Breaking herself away from the bizarre fantasy world she found herself in, Konata rattled her brain at her companions' behest, curling her mouth into a feline-esque sneer.

"To every foul hellion in this land, of course! A warning message to any and all demons who dare to cross me!" The azure knight huffed boldly, pronouncing her chest as heroically as she could muster.

"This isn't some game you know, this is the real deal. You keep acting like that and you'll wind up like the rest of the _secret weapons_ who acted as brazen as you." Kagami bitterly moaned as she retracted away from her noisy comrade, already beginning to think she may have enjoyed just a bit more peace and quiet away from the adventurous little squirt.

"Your concern for my health is duly noted Kagamin, but in all honesty you weren't there! Just ask Miyuki, I've been somewhat of a bad-ass ever since this kingdom dared to call me to it! I could feel the ground shake with fear as I tread upon it; did I mention I fought a dragon?" Konata boisterously exclaimed, carving out a mental image for the older Hiiragi twin to muddle in, even if she could scarcely believe the rambunctious ball of trouble could hold her own against a mythical beast.

At the same time the outlandish scene-let played out in her head, Kagami couldn't help but wonder about her diminutive trouble-making friend. Konata wasn't one for fear, not in any situation, she seemed to relish in the adrenaline, the mayhem did not deter her one bit, it only presented an opportunity for her. Boletaria was, as any calculating mind could see, a land of opportunity.

Place a rogue element like Konata in a lawless land without rule, and the results were bound to be disastrous. But perhaps, Kagami mused, if every able-bodied sword hand had the conviction and character of an Izumi, their nation might not have fallen to the might of the demon menace.

As much as she was troubled by her friend's light-hearted attitude aimed at the situation they found themselves in, she couldn't help but admire her. What was it like in that little menace's head day in and day out? What was it like to live without a care, bumbling day in and day out yet still maintaining an air of balance and collected coolness for any given situation? While the thoughtful tsundere was much too proud to admit it, she was jealous of her friend.

"Is that really true, Yuki-Chan?" Tsukasa suddenly sounded from silence, placing herself into the conversation as the oddly silent and guarded mage drew away from her contemplations.

"Ah well…I…" Was all the Miyuki could sputter out before a sudden signaling from their guide brought the talkative group of adventurers to a halt, and silencing themselves, they looked to her as she glanced back at them, her face furrowed into confusion.

"Are you guys always this chatty? Could you at least tell your chibikko to yammer up for awhile? You do realize there's probably some foul beast lurking around here just _waiting_ for some fool who doesn't know how to keep their trap shut…" Their agitated guide grumbled, earning a steely gaze and a crossing of the arms from the older Hiiragi twin.

"And are you always this _rude? _But…I see where you're coming from I guess, keep it down alright guys? That goes double for _you._" Kagami gently motioned to her comrades, singling out the progenitor of the babble and stuffing a prodding finger into her forehead with a flick.

"Shut _up_, damn! We're here." The weary guide motioned to the colossal gate at the group's feet, towering hundreds of feet to the stalagmite laden cave walls.

"This is where that bull-demon attacked us…" Tsukasa remembered suddenly, her gaze drifting towards the dusty blonde archer at her back, who could only offer a ginger smile in response, were it not for her excitement, the trio might not have been nearly killed by the raging bovine.

"But what about the Dragon God? You only went out of your way a whole lot to chew me out about that, why the no show on his part?" Patty pointed out confusedly, earning only a light shrug from their guide, who wearily pressed a twitching thumb to her sweaty chin in thought.

"I don't know, whatever that thing was that attacked us, it sure wasn't him. Not that I've ever seen the bastard, but…sure didn't look like a dragon." The hopeless group of adventurer's adviser, Misao, questioned to herself lightly, she was already beginning to regret agreeing to anything at the behest of a demon, she could barely deal with the _one_ master who tugged on her leash.

Dislodging her spear from its clasp upon her armored back, Misao brazenly stepped into the herculean archway without a word, allowing her mind to whisk itself away to several days earlier, when she found another pair of ethereal shackles clasped like iron around her soiled body.

* * *

"Crazy old hag could've killed me, did you see that? She could've killed me! And what's _your_ deal all of a sudden lemon-head? I thought I had enough to worry about…" Misao barked incessantly at her newfound allies, earning only several confused looks and a pop of the lips from the blusterous little midget who had been eyeing her since the two had crossed paths.

"You were pretty quick to use violence yourself from what I saw." Konata muttered matter-of-factly, snickering to herself when the fanged spear-woman retorted with an extension of a twiddling middle finger. "I think I'll have fun with her." The bluenette whispered to Tsukasa seated next to the troublemaking girl, who could only nod with an unsure smile, she could never figure out why the eccentric little otaku found such joy in prodding at others, but knew she meant nothing by it.

"And lemon drop, really, what the hell was that all about? You might've shared earlier you have a soft spot for mages, huh?" Misao probed further, noticing little change in the face of the archer she questioned, who merely stood with a grumble and aimlessly began to walk off, earning a light glare from Kagami in response, who quickly tailed the reclusive woman. "What? What did I say? It isn't my fault everyone here is a nut case, I don't even know why I'm still here. I got your ass here safe and sound Hiiragi, you should be kissing my boots right now!" The spear-woman pouted childishly, almost as if she had forgotten she was the one who volunteered to save the girl in the first place.

"I…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to seem ungrateful." Tsukasa murmured ingloriously, practically feeling her shoulders heave with guilt, were it not for the fiery little fanged girl both she and the archer Patty may have both been very likely to be dead, so perhaps some thanks _were _in order.

"Don't waste your breath Tsukasa, she doesn't really want you to thank her. Lay off the trashy attitude a little Misa_kichi_, you know she's thankful." Konata defended with a stern look to the prosecutor, which owed an abashed huff in response.

"Misa-what? It's Misao you little punk! I…agh, damn it! I don't have time for this, I got your friend here to the Nexus safe and sound, that means this babysitters off the clock, no overtime means no more tender loving care!" The affronted warrior hissed as she stood to leave, only to be blockaded by the wily assassin, still clutching her blood-spattered shoulder.

"Hold it. I just got new orders from the witch, _you _aren't going anywhere. You're supposed to stay with this lot, observe them." Kuroi gently commanded, unearthing the medallion that allowed her travel to and from the Nexus, and gently clearing her mind, feeling the tear of space and time at her back, the arrival of a space between time.

"Observe? What're you kidding me? Hell no! You can tell the old scow to fall on a sword on this one; I'm done with these halfwits!" The spear-woman yapped back unpleasantly, earning only a glaring downtrodden look from the assassin.

"Why don't you go file that worker's complaint to the witch herself? I'm sure she'd appreciate it, the orders are non-negotiable, and I must now take my leave, so take care of these kids will ya?" The hit-woman mysteriously ordered, turning her back on the mouth-agape tanned woman and vanishing into fulminations of magic, tearing her from that plane of existence itself and lodging her wherever their master commanded.

"Witch? What was she talkin' about? And why're you all chummy with her all of a sudden? Five minutes ago you were ready to cook her goose." The azure knight interrogated curiously, but a faded look from the bellicose little woman seemed to say that she'd receive no answers she sought, and decided that dropping it was a better alternative than pressing into matters that didn't concern her, how unlike herself the bluenette mused.

"Regardless, looks like I'm stuck with you and your assemblage of dregs, midget…so I guess I've got no choice but to tolerate you for the time being." The basted observer capitulated, dropping herself to the musty stone-make with a severe grumbling of her aching belly, how long had it been since she had eaten?

Noticing the flustered chuckle that escaped the girls lips, the gentle Tsukasa couldn't allow herself to simply ignore the rumbling of an empty stomach, and perhaps this would be a fine way to make up for the trouble she caused Misao, she brooded.

Rummaging through her knapsack, the ready to please chef heaved out a rather thick book, the crinkled and torn cover embroidered with glistening golden symbols the fanged woman noticed, but her face only contorted into abraded confusion at the sight of it.

"What's it say?" Misao asked hesitantly as her face was enveloped in a crimson streak, to which Konata and Tsukasa could only exchange muddled glances.

"Ya can't read?" The bluenette began with a light heaving chuckle, ready to press down on the fact with unrelenting teasing, only to notice her victim seemed somewhat sappy at her words, and decided to cut herself off with a nasally cough.

"It ain't that I can't! It's just I…" The spear-woman argued back, all too soon stopping herself when she realized she'd back herself into a corner if she lied about it, she really didn't know how to read, as ashamed as she was to admit it. In her particularly single-minded line of work, knowledge of such things wasn't entirely necessary, and it isn't as if her parents had lived long enough to teach her anything on the subject either.

"D-Don't worry, I'll read it for you. It's a cook book, I was going to make you something to eat…to repay you for your kindness I mean, in saving mine and Patty-Chan's lives." Tsukasa humbled as she cow-towed herself to the ground, hearing Konata's weary protests but steadily ignoring them, she owed the fanged girl at least this much, the poor creature was naught by skin and bones, slicked heads to toe in grime and dirt, bruises and age old scars, just what type of life would one have to live to endure such things?

"Did you say cook book? L-L-Like for making food? Ha, ha-ha! That'd be great! D'ya think you could make something spicy? Or maybe something with chocolate in it? Oh my god it's been ages since I've had chocolate…" The warrior reminisced ecstatically, bouncing up and down like a kid with a new toy, her face curling with pure joy as she felt her mouth salivate like a pup at the thought of a good home-cooked meal.

"I'll see what I can do." The plucky chef reassured, and to her own astonishment as well, a clanking can of cocoa was wedged in between several of the ingredients she had prepared for their long journey to Boletaria, and upon releasing the ground sweets, Misao's nose began twitching like a rabbit, and she just couldn't help herself when a snorting laughter erupted from her timid frame, tearing the brush from her culinary artists hands, she couldn't help but inhale deeply into the metallic object, feeling a lump form in her throat at the shear nostalgia that washed over her as she did so.

Returning herself from the halcyon days that eluded her, Misao could only grumble formally and rub her head with a laugh as the girls in front of her chuckled at her odd behavior, perhaps these quirky little adventurer's weren't so bad, she mused, not bad at all.

"I do not mean to intrude young wards, but the Monumental has summoned thee, it awaits you above." The ever unnerving tone of the blinded maiden sounded suddenly, to which Konata could only groan, of course it did, she had almost forgotten her bargain with the husk. Were she to have her dear friends returned to her side safe and sound, she would consider its plight of sealing the Old One, whatever that meant at any rate. Glancing over to the salivating slave, Misao could do nothing but groan as she pressed herself upward, grimacing at her angry belly.

"Fine, I'll go shepherd up the herd. See you up top with the candle kid." Misao nonchalantly spurted out; earning a whip of the brow from the bluenette as she steadily stood herself.

"You know about the Monumental?" The azure knight probed, genuinely wondering how in the world this strange fanged girl knew of the demon, it almost hurt her a little, she figured she may've been special for being summoned by it, apparently not.

"You think you're the first sucker the Monumental ever bitched to? Nope. It's told that same sap story to every poor soul who ever had the misfortune of coming to the Nexus, you ain't the first, and you sure won't be the last." She cooed apathetically to her questioner as she left her sight, almost feeling a tad sorry for the poor girls, soon they too would suffer in both mind and body for that crusty old statue, just as so many had before.

Gazing thoughtfully at the great relics of demons which challenged gravity, hanging from the seemingly endless ceiling like chandeliers, the pitiful slave couldn't help but shiver as her senses were overtaken by the dense fog of the Nexus. Even here, in the space between spaces, a place so withdrawn from the troubles of the world, did the colorless fog soak into. Nothing was safe from its omnipresent sulking, it clung to everything, weighing them down, sapping the very marrow from their bones.

This place was fit for no man, and she certainly couldn't disagree, but she felt more at home in the hellish kingdom of Boletaria than anywhere else. While a place for the damned to many, it was celestial to her, a life of servitude can make anyone yearn for freedom. What better place to be free than in a place without authority? A place where every man was his own, every woman her own, and the law of the land was strength of self alone. But perhaps it was never her destiny to be her own woman, she submissively chewed over, after all, not everyone pulled the leash, somebody has to go fetch the ball.

Peaking her sweat-caked head around a dew-laden stone pillar, the drudge silenced herself as she noticed the older of the two Hiiragi twins approaching that shapely markswoman. While she felt bad for snooping, her orders were law, to disobey was to die.

"Are you alright?" Kagami softly beseeched to the bumbling mess of woe and tears on the floor, who piteously exchanged a glance with her interrogator, only gently shaking her head in response.

Inhaling lightly, Kagami put on her best comforting smile that she could muster as she allowed herself to plop down next to the weeping stranger, gingerly pressing a warm hand to the archer's quivering shoulder.

"Kagami Hiiragi." The older twin politely introduced, folding her hand into the bawling woman's with a firm shake, feeling the groveling girls' delicate fingers intertwine with her own.

"Patty." The marksman whispered, lazily splitting her hand from the embrace and tucking it into the crumpled mess of limbs as she balled up like a small frightened animal.

"Thank you, for protecting my sister, I mean. She told me that you assisted her when she was in dire straits, and so for that…I thank you from the bottom of my heart." The lilac knight courteously acknowledged, allowing a slight bow of her head to lower herself in front of her sister's guardian. But as grateful as she was, she knew a rather serious line of questioning was in order, especially after the spectacle she had witnessed the second she stepped into the otherworldly Nexus.

Removing her sheathed blade from her hip, Kagami stood as she attempted to make herself as non-threatening as possible, she sure didn't know if she trusted this girl Patty, but she knew she didn't want to get off to a bad start like she had several previous relationships in the days past.

"But I must know…why did you assault my friend? Is it because she's a mage?" The older Hiiragi wondered, hoping to god that prejudice wasn't the case. Not a fan of mages herself, Kagami knew what it was like to look down on magical folk for little to no reason, growing up in such an environment, but Miyuki was always different to her. So kind, so elegant and professional in how she went about her studies of the dark arts, Kagami trusted her fully, which is more than she could say for any other mage who had ever been in her presence.

"No. I have no problem with magic-kin; I simply…mistook her for someone else." The high voice of the marksman cracked with a looming whisper, her tender gaze meeting Kagami's with a light grin. "Her resemblance is uncanny to someone I used to know…but, I suppose that doesn't matter, right? What's past is past, I always say. Or at least, I say that now." She finished with a rather detached and cold smile, thrusting herself upwards from the damp ground effortlessly, hoisting her quiver higher on her shoulders. "Besides, I'm not much for quarrels any who, especially with those who've done me no wrong. I'll apologize to Takara-San the moment she awakes, this I promise you." Patty genuinely pleaded, shaking Kagami's hands to make a pact of word.

With that, the seemingly bipolar little weirdo marched off aimlessly in the first direction she geared herself towards, and Kagami could do nothing to stop her, feeling her throat lock up with so many words left unsaid. The thoughtful tsundere couldn't help but wonder at just who the markswoman spoke of who resembled her dear friend, and what situation had been placed between the two that gave the seemingly cheerful girl reason enough to kill? Perhaps, it wasn't her place to know, but until Patty gave her any reason to distrust her, she would allow the archer to stay in her company, but her eye would be ever watchful of any suspicious activities nonetheless.

"Your presence is requested by the Monumental, go wake up that sleeping mage of yours, will ya?" A voice abruptly barked, and turning to its owner, Kagami found it to be that ratty-looking tan girl, to at the request; she could only cock her head at. "Just follow me; it's easier if you see it for yourself." Misao requested wearily, motioning for the lilac-haired warrior to follow her.

The twosome collected themselves hastily, returning to the majority of their group and reuniting to begin the ascent up the endless stair-cases of the Nexus, stretching to the heavens and beyond.

While this was naught but a replay for Konata, she couldn't help but smirk as her friends wondrously gazed at the sights they beheld. Inverted statuettes of unknown gods and goddesses, endless streams of wax-dripped candles illuminating even the darkest corners, and the stairs, twirling and twisting akin to that of a ballerina's dance, all leading to the same glowing apex atop the Nexus, where the Monumental sat waiting.

Noticing their collective was shy one member, Kagami turned to the bedraggled slave who led them ever higher, nudging her shoulder with an alerting cough.

"Where's Sensei?" She questioned, to which the servant could only gloomily shrug, turning her attention to the boundless stairs.

"Dunno, she left. Didn't say where, and honestly? Don't care." Misao apathetically whispered to herself more than anyone, as if she hadn't even been answering a question at all.

While slightly unnerved her companion was missing in action, Kagami couldn't help but feel her Sensei would be alright, from what little tenure the two had spent together, she showed resilience the likes of which the young girl had never seen before, it seemed almost inhuman. But she had gotten the information she needed in spite of the assassin's sudden disappearance, she knew where she had to go to rid herself of her ailing, she knew what had to be done.

Stopping on queue Misao turned tail to face the group, disinterestedly presenting the door wrought in stone at their front with a lazy smile.

"Here we are, the chambers of the devil itself. I won't be accompanying you inside, as I've already had the pleasure of listening to its little speeches before. Don't take it too seriously, sometimes I don't think even it believes what its saying." The slave quietly warned, leaning against the wall adjacent to the Monumental's meditation area and waving the others off.

Entering the less than humble abode of the demon for the second time, Konata followed the trail of dampened candles and riddled corpses of the other Monumentals until she found the last of them, still sitting silently, unmoving, its face contorted into the same ever-present porcelain doll expression.

"Welcome back, slayer of demons. I see you are with company this time. Allow me to introduce myself to your compatriots." The Monumental spoke in its many voices, the same ever lonely candle's flame swaying in tune with its hymn-like voice.

"Eh…you know buddy I'm not really good at listening to long stories twice, could we get the abridged version this time?" Konata moaned childishly, earning a slap to the back of the head from her tsundere behind her.

"I'm sorry; this one was never taught proper etiquette. I'm Kagami Hiiragi; this is my sister, Tsukasa Hiiragi, our friend, Miyuki Takara, and a traveler who has crossed our paths, Patricia Martin." Kagami introduced thoughtfully, pointing to each member of their plucky little band and graciously bowing to the Monumental before her.

"No, the one known as Konata Izumi is correct. Time is short, and I must be as well. You all know of the horror that damns your world, yes? The Old One." The husk spoke, its voices trailing off at the sound of its tormentor, its sin upon the world. "Any rumors you have heard in your home lands are true, more so than any gossiper knows. The Old One has indeed returned." It spoke once more, this time far more sternly, the gravity of what it spoke of was all too much for the group of young girls, and a light peep couldn't help but bellow from Tsukasa as she felt for her sister's hand, who gripped it reassuringly.

"The Old One, the demon of legend yes? The one they say is behind this colorless fog, that millennia ago nearly consumed the world." Miyuki questioned, recalling her ancient tome which she often carried with her detailing the brief history their world had endured, most of it being eras of death and woes.

"The very same. I do not know why, but the good King Allant has unhinged the doors of chaos, he has released the beast from its eternal slumber. It is beyond my power to stop it now; it killed every Monumental save me, just to hold the beast within its prison, here, in the Nexus." The Monumental recalled to its audience, telling the story so surely and with a stoic face, one could probably believe Misao's words, just how many times had it pleaded to others for help in this matter? How many had tried but failed? How many had outright dismissed the husk?

"B-But, why would he do such a thing?" Tsukasa jittered out, still lightly clasping herself to her sister, listening in horror at the doomsday tale the Monumental painted out for them.

"As I have said, I do not know. While I have never personally had the pleasure of being in the Good King's company, his reasoning eludes me as well. Which is why he must be stopped, before it is too late, before the Old One consumes the world just as it has done so many times before." The husk nearly whispered, so solidly that Konata had to be sure she had heard the demon correctly.

"Wait _times_? As in, more than once? I thought this has only happened once before." The azure knight brokenly asked, horrified at the very sound of it. If this had happened before, and had been stopped, why did it continue? What was the point of even trying to stop it if it would just happen again to hinder the peace of some future generation?

"Alas, this cycle has been repeating itself since the beginning of time itself. For as long as the Old One has existed, it has been consuming this world of its very life, only to be halted in its advance and sealed away once more. I have served in the Nexus ever since then, beseeching the aid of those like yourself, prisoners of the Nexus, to assist in sealing the beast back whence it came, so that I may hold it there in its prison for as long as I am able." The Monumental confessed to its champions, almost presenting the case as a hopeless endeavor, but giving off that certain give it your best shot tone.

"So wait, even if this…thing is stopped, it'll just happen again?" Kagami spurted out somewhat more angrily than she had intended, feeling her sister clench tighter around her arm gently as she did so.

"At first, I thought this…but there is something different this time. You must understand, I have seen this scenario play out so many times, I have recognized the players, all the same, the goal, to extend not destroy…but something has felt different this time." The crusty old statue thoughtfully wondered, turning to the de facto leader of the group, Konata, and creakily jutting a stone finger in her direction. "It is you, and your father. I am unfortunately gifted with the power of foresight, I am able to see events before they take place, but this time is different. In my vision, the future is unclear for the first time in the history of time itself. For the first time I am unable to see the Old One returning to slumber at the end of my vision, as I so often have. And it is because of you, Konata Izumi. In my vision, neither you or your father were present." It spoke nigh silently, for the first time in Konata's presence, its face changed from that stoic expression, something she couldn't believe she'd see on the depressing little pigmy, a smile.

"Me? And did you say my father? Do you know where he is?" The azure knight hopefully breathed out, feeling her heart stitch and ache at the very mention of her missing father.

"No…his location is unknown to me, but you must understand, this is good news. I do not know why you and your father elude my gaze, as nobody ever has, but I have a theory. I do not believe you were meant to come here, to Boletaria, but you did. You are outside the boundaries of destiny itself, and if my theory would prove correct…this would mean you are outside the boundaries of the Old One as well. Do you not see? This time can be different, it need not be lulled to slumber, it can be destroyed once for all!" The Monumental spoke almost excitedly, highly in contrast to the earlier dealings Konata had with the talkative little statue, it seemed to be an entirely different being.

"But…what could I do? I…I just came here to look for my dad, I never expected…" Konata unexpectedly whispered, with little to no fervor in her voice that was so oft present during such situations.

She loved adventure, and she loved the freedom she felt ever since she had begun her journey to Boletaria, the adrenaline that coursed through her veins every time her life was at risk, the courage that steeled her heart every time her blade was stained with blood, she loved it. But this was beyond what she could have imagined, when at first she arrived, the kingdom of Boletaria could've rotted from the inside out for all she cared, she just wanted her father returned to her.

The situation seemed so much larger as the husk spoke to her, it seemed on a scale akin to that of the heroes she so often read about in stories back home, the heroes she aspired to mold herself into in both essence and appearance. She trained every day with a blade to become a great knight like her cousin and father before her, she grew her hair out long and untamed at the stories her father would often tell of her very brave mother, a warrior herself.

She had always wanted the opportunity to feel like she could be something more than what she was, an excuse to just let it all go and become the hero she always childishly dreamed of being. But now, here at this moment, when the very thing she most desired, purpose, was placed in front of her with no strings attached, she found she was hesitant to accept it.

Would agreeing to this outlandish request mean the end of the search for her father? Would it result in not only her death, but the deaths of all she held dear? What if she failed, would existence itself crumble inward at the call of the Old One? What if she succeeded, would she be allowed to reunite with her missing kin and live out a life of peace without fear of Armageddon?

What of her companions? Had she not asked enough of them? Asking them to bequeath their very lives in order to join her on this suicide mission, could she ask them for assistance a second time on an equally, if not more so impossible assignment?

All eyes were on her, the frosty and unwavering fixture of the Monumental, the bubbly and hopeful eyes of Tsukasa and Miyuki, the downtrodden and listless eyes of the curvaceous archer, and the abysmal eyes of her dear tsundere, locked to hers with no signs of moving.

"Konata?" Kagami worriedly probed, gently grasping the girl's petite shoulders only to have her hands wretched away in response as the bluenette backed herself up towards the door, glancing amongst the groups confused gazes once more before turning to leave without a word.

Her heart ripped from its strings as she stormed out of the Monumental's chamber, brushing past the musty slave who was still laid against the stone-make, her face whirled into a devilish grin.

"Well, well, well! This is certainly a surprise, looks like the old statue is actually changing it up this time, what's this about of absence of destiny?" The slave mocked gently, but her chants fell on deaf ears as the azure knight passed her silently, making her way down the endless stairways ever downward.

Watching the sulking little menace leave her field of vision, Misao felt a tap of her shoulder and turned to see the twin-tailed warrior, her face as rigid as the very statue it had been speaking to. Knowing full well what she wanted, the slave wordlessly pointed her in the direction of the escaping girl.

"While I know this probably some personal crap and all, orders are orders; you'll have to suffer my presence as well." Misao wickedly snickered, pushing past the tsundere and leading her to her sniveling little friend.

The duo found Konata bundled helplessly behind one of the countless sinned works of art gracing the halls of the Nexus, and keeping her distance, Misao allowed Kagami to approach her fragile friend alone, she had her commands yes, but as long as the two were within her sights that was all she needed.

"Konata?" She whispered to the packaged lump of her friend, deciding it best not to take a seat next to her, she almost found it odd approaching her friend like a frightened animal, taking every precaution to ensure she didn't try to run.

"What do you do if somebody hands you everything you've ever wanted, only to discover…you can't take it?" Konata sounded with unusual wisdom, her voice barely audible, and as Kagami felt, so far away.

"What do you mean?" Kagami hesitantly asked, she had never heard her dear friend speak this way, so hauntingly serious, it almost struck her as angry.

"I mean all this! Everything that's happened…I, Kagamin…I'm a loser back home. I tried everything to make my life seem like it was something worth living, a life others would be envious of. I mean…who the hell is gonna remember me at the end of the day, huh? Where's the story that grandparents tell their grandchildren about the great Azure Knight Konata! It' doesn't exist, and it never will!" Konata screeched in a frightening outburst of rage, just how long had this been building up Kagami wondered, how long had her worry-free little devil of a friend felt this way?

"What about our home? Your dad? Our friends…or me? Does none of that matter to you, aren't we good enough?" Her tsundere responded almost as if she was hurt by her friend's brazen comments, to which Konata could only gently sigh.

"You know you mean the world to me, Kagami…you…you know that. You and Tsukasa, Miyuki…you're the only things that give my boring, stupid life any purpose! I don't _have _a purpose, Kagami! I'm a failure as a student, I'll never become a knight, and all I do is drag those I care about into my selfish little problems and ruin their lives too!" The bluenette continued with her rant, her voice dampening with sweat and glowing a light red as she did so, anger wasn't something Kagami could recall her friend ever expressing, it just wasn't in her to be angry at anything or anyone for any reason, but seeing her like this in this tortured state, all Kagami could do is let her vent.

"You act as if every person is given a purpose the second they're born, like we live our lives pre-destined, and you know damn well that's not true Konata. We aren't given a purpose, nobody chooses it for us, we as humans have the free will and convictions necessary to _decide_ our purpose, even you Konata." Kagami emotionally argued back, this time pressing herself closer to her friend and roughly grasping the girl's wrist, nearly feeling the bluenette quake within her gentle hold.

"I hate my life, Kagami. I want the world to know I was here, I want to die knowing that I left my mark on it…but now that I'm given a chance, I…I'm so goddamn scared I can't even think about taking it." The downtrodden otaku revealed, averting her gaze shamefully from Kagami's, she couldn't even bare to look at her anymore, she must've sounded like a nut case.

And to anyone who had never met the boisterous, obnoxious, scheming little rodent, they would've thought her to be a complete loon, but to Kagami, this was among the sanest things she had ever heard.

"You mean…the Old One? You…you're thinking about listening to the Monumental?" Kagami questioned in an almost hopeful voice, which Konata picked up on, but just barely.

"I have a confession, Kagami. I didn't just come here to save my dad…I used him disappearing as an excuse to escape my dreary life, to just leave it all behind and start over in some unknown land, what better place than Boletaria? I want to find my father more than anything, but it's more than that now, I want to scar the Earth with my name, I want people to know who I am, what better way than by saving the whole damn thing, right?" Konata shakily muttered, her entire voice was rattled and raspy, she almost couldn't even believe such things were coming out of her mouth, these deep thoughts she had never dared to share with anyone, even her beloved Kagamin.

"Well, you know what I think?" The lilac knight softly probed, reaching out for her dear friend's tender hand and clinching it within her own, only to tear them roughly apart and fiercely slap the bluenette unexpectedly.

"Hey, what was that for!" The otaku moaned, what did she say that deserved a whack of that magnitude?

"I think you're selfish! You're making this about you, huh? W-Well…what about me, huh? Did you ever once think to come to me about this? Did you ever think how I'd of felt if you ran off to some god-forsaken place like this and got yourself killed! I wouldn't have allowed it! You didn't invite me along; I came along not because you needed me, but because I need you Konata!" Kagami roared in an outburst with as much flair as she could muster, feeling her face crisp as red as blood and heat vehemently at the suggestive tone of her words, she could even see her moping friends face curl into a wicked smile at the comment.

"Oh, it's like _that_, is it?" Konata chuckled relentlessly, she knew her dear tsundere would be prime for pickings in such a serious moment such as this, but she sure didn't expect something like this!

"You know damn well I didn't mean for it to come out like that…just listen you idiot, for one second just stop being you. Konata, I can't make the decision for you, I can't be the one to give you your purpose…that responsibility relies squarely on your shoulders. Do you want to do this thing? Do you want to leave your mark upon this world? Because I…" Stuttering off in her cheering speech, Kagami couldn't help but feel her thumping heart throb with each tender beat, her friends longing gaze didn't help to alleviate the tension between them either.

"Would you hurry it up? By the time you two are done here the Old One will have destroyed the whole damn planet!" The blistering voice of the apparently annoyed slave rang out in the twos ears, and they could only gently giggle with one another at just how far they were taking this.

"Because I'm behind you one-hundred percent Konata, I wouldn't have followed you to this damned kingdom if I didn't believe in you." Kagami reaffirmed courageously, vigorously shaking her friend to and fro with a bumbling and goofy laugh.

As she gazed into Kagami's swirling orbs, filled with absolute loyalty to her egocentric and insane cause, ready and willing to sacrifice anything and everything to leave her mark upon the world, Konata knew she too had to be so strong-willed, as adamant as her beloved Kagamin.

"The Monumental, I have to talk to 'em." Konata courageously fumed, clenching her fists as she turned away from the lilac knight, who could only softly smile as the bluenette wandered off to the endless staircases without another interjection, how sure she must've been, how hard it must have been for her, but she knew her friend wouldn't allow her purpose to elude her any longer.

"You really love her, don't you?" The servant Misao chuckled without shame, causing a storm of coughing and wheezing to escape the throat of the lilac knight, who couldn't help herself when a glob of fresh saliva had lodged itself in her tremulous throat.

"L-Love her? I…I do not! I thought you said you wouldn't be listening anyway you eavesdropping little rat!" Kagami fumed angrily, only adding more leaves to the fire as Misao erupted into a gale storm of laughter.

"Alright, alright, keep tellin' yourself that. My advice though, little petite twiggy girls like her are all the rage these days, you better make a move before someone else does." Misao pointed out expertly, as if she was well-versed in the subject.

"Screw off! And like I need advice from you…which I wouldn't need anyway because I don't love her!" Kagami barked back, feeling the tingling veins on her forehead grip at her skull in rage, deciding that she wouldn't lower herself to this stupidity any longer and return herself to the Monumental's chambers.

Her work of observer accomplished for the moment, the slave couldn't help but let her eyes follow the two knights as they descended the never ending stair cases, this would certainly be the most interesting job that old scow had ever placed upon her at any rate.

* * *

Scraping the looming memories from her now rattled brain and returning to the present, the slave got her bearings straight once more as she pressed onward into the gaping maw of the behemoth-like door, the rest of her group in tow.

The Monumental had given them the same task it had given every other wayfarer who had so unfortunately ended up in its clutches, breaking the seal of the Old One.

The Old One could only ever be held in its prison, the otherworldly Nexus, for so long before it hatched its escape. During this, the colorless fog would seep from the seal in the Nexus and soak into the world, erasing it within the mist. The seal that held the Old One in place was in fact not a simple barrier, but an incredibly advanced form of magic unheard of by even Miyuki.

Using the power of souls, the Old One was able to relinquish portions of its soul into hosts, who would then take on physical manifestations of demons. These great evils were known only to the world as the Arch Demons, a band of incredible demons the likes of which the waking world had never known.

These demons, Misao recalled from the Monumental's tale, each held a portion of the Old One's soul within their deviant shells. The Dragon God, the Great Stormbeast, the Greedy King, and the Sixth Saint and her revered knight of Garland were the bearers of these souls, and in order to weaken the Old One's seal enough to face him, each of these souls must be returned to their progenitor.

How they were to defeat any gods of demons, the group was unsure, as they had a hard enough time challenging even the most delicate of beasts, the very thought of challenging these foes shook the girls in their boots.

But how would they know unless they tried? The Monumental's words were ironed into the azure knight's brain, that she lived outside the boundaries of destiny, that her purpose in this conflict was yet to be decided, unseen, and Konata wouldn't allow herself to give up without even trying.

"What is this place anyway?" Kagami questioned their guide, who didn't seem entirely sure of their strange surroundings herself.

"I dunno, nobody has opened the gate of the Dragon God in a millennia, but thanks to our little treasure hunter here, we've got a chance to go drop in on the old drake, how fun, right?" Misao mocked slightly, not even attempting to hide just how ecstatic she was that her life could be forfeited at any time to the might of some scale-ridden beast, or probably worse.

"Hey, I told you I was sorry! Anyway, I need that abomination dead if I'm ever going to obtain that sword of his, right? So this works out for everyone! It's good to be back in the company of warm faces again, yes it surely is!" Patty hummed gratefully, skipping like a schoolgirl ahead of the group as she cackled and snickered, one could practically see the rays of sunshine that glowed over her head, were they above ground anyway.

"Is this even part of the mine?" Tsukasa asked somewhat sharply, the tunnels deep within the Boletarian mine certainly didn't look man-made, and looked older than time itself.

The claustrophobic tunnel walls were caked in a pasty, white substance resembling thick spider webs, and there were no signs that man had left his mark anywhere. No shovels and mine-carts, and no more of those jewel-eyed miners Tsukasa had several run-ins with, just the ancient decay and pungent stink of age untouched.

"I don't think any man has stepped foot in here, to be honest, not ever. The second Allant's miners found this place they abandoned all operations here, remember? So, who knows what's in here." Patty interjected, recalling the tale she had told Tsukasa earlier when the two had first crossed paths rather awkwardly and eventfully.

Coming to a rubble-laden dead end, Misao twirled her spear with the grace of a baton, smashing through the ample rocks with little to no effort, allowing the crumbling stones to unearth a new path for them, which radiated with an orange glow most ominous.

Stepping out into the blinding light, the slave couldn't help but let out an astonished whistle at the sight before her, and a burst of gasps soon followed her as they surveyed the beauty before them.

Lakes of lava, far as the eye could see in every direction, an orange ocean of bubbling and rippling sludge hotter than any hell. A series of seemingly man-made stone temples created upon every stony descent, temples to long-forgotten gods and hovels to an extinct race of worshippers. Every bit of culture pointed in one direction of worship, the Dragon God, carved in stone and molded in clay, everywhere there was prayer to the beastly deity.

Stone pillars of mountainous might erupted from the very magma itself, still standing strong after thousands of years of erosion, these plateaus and islands were connected to one another by bridges beget in copper and stone, twinkling like gold under the dim light of the lava.

An El Dorado at the center of the earth, Shangri-la to all who know where to look, this hidden gem of a city probably held treasures thought long lost to mankind, knowledge that any scholar would kill to get his hands on, power that any nation would seize and use without restraint.

"And it's here!" A high-pitched squeal squeaked from the back of the group, and pushing past her companions, Patty felt the light trickle of sweat down the nape of her neck at the daunting heat, and she breathed deep. "It's here, what I've been search so long for, finally within my grasp!" She excitedly finished, once again skipping merrily ahead of the group without a care in the world, she couldn't be stopped now, she would have the sword if it killed her! But preferably, she'd just like the sword.

"What was I thinking when I agreed to this…?" Misao downwardly wailed, this lot really was a lot more trouble than they were worth, but her master wouldn't have tasked her with watching them if they weren't. She wasn't one for disagreeing, at this stage in her breaking in she could do nothing but mindlessly follow orders, but she couldn't help but question it, what was it about these idiots that set the old woman aflame?

Sometimes it really was unfortunate, being the hound.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Oh hey, guys! So it seems my comeback wasn't all bad, I got a shit-storm of story favorites, reads, and a new review! So all is good! I was somewhat worn out at the thought of writing another action-laden chapter, so I decided to experiment with a little dialogue. The stage for the story is finally set, the prologue is over, and I am finally past the hump the story found itself in. Sorry it took a few too many days to fart out another chapter, all these damn video games coming out, man, taking over my life. New chapter out sooner than the last, promise.


	13. Loosening the Leash

**Lucky Souls**

* * *

**Chapter 13: Loosening the Leash**

The antediluvian ruined city around them loomed silently, not a soul gracing its marbled streets. The archaic metropolis had definitely not seen life for some time, but strangely, the city looked as though it were new, as if had daily upkeep most vigorous.

The slickly crafted checker-stoned grown was glossy and faultless, the structures crafted with the elegance of a master architect were just as flawless as they had been since their erection, and the clay shrines to their mighty basilisk still shown with the sheen of newness.

A perfectly preserved set piece, lost in time but still captivatingly beautiful, Miyuki couldn't contain herself as she allowed her hand to glide smoothly over the relics; her inner scholar was practically abuzz with all manner of fascination.

"Astounding, these structures have the craft of new era work, but how old must they be, thousands of years? Truly, this civilization must've been one far beyond its time." The enchanter analyzed bookishly, turning to her group with a bubbly sneer.

"That's probably no coincidence; I'd spend less time gawking about it and more time being concerned about it. In Boletaria, number one rule, when something ain't right, here comes a fight." Misao instructed to her lesser, unhinging her spear and briskly gripping it, preparing for the worst.

"Oh, you worry too much Misakichi! Don't tell me you're not just as enraptured by this place? An ancient city deep beneath the earth's crust, imagine the fortune this place holds!" Patty nonchalantly giggled, patting the worrisome slave on the back to alleviate some of her anxious behavior.

"You're calling me that as well? That better not become a nick-name or I'm gonna be really pissed!" The dreg roared at Patty, who could only snicker gently and give a thumbs-up to her senior, Izumi, who had just began to instruct her on the endless fun one may have prodding at others.

An ominous rumbling sound cut the teasing short, and feeling that same fizzling in her gut, Misao turned tail, not noticing anything entirely out of the ordinary, but she was far more attuned to such things than the average soul, she could hear what they couldn't, smell what they cannot, and these unfortunate skills kept her far more alert to danger than anyone ought to be.

"We're not alone." Misao warned, still not noticing any signs of movement, something about the deathly silent city alerted her senses to danger, but where was it?

The crisis came in the form of a low-pitched buzzing sound, humming dutifully in her ears before she was aware of it. The ground below her suddenly began to chatter violently, and before she could even move it flipped in upon itself, knocking her to the ground with a crunch.

Her voice quivered gently as she admired what had taken the square of dirt's place, a small arachnid-like automaton, wrought in steel and painted delicately with stylish markings. Upon its jittering head lay a radiating globe of energy, encased in a glass-like tube.

"What the hell?" She whispered to herself, waiting for the tiny mech to do something, attack maybe, but it offered no signs of aggression.

"Woah, what is that?" Konata jubilated without even a hint of suspicion to any danger tinged in her tone, approaching the miniscule spectacle of science and giggling as it twitched curiously at her, like a small animal.

"It appears to be some form of machine, but what powers it…?" Miyuki examined closely as she inspected the intruder, but it did naught but ignore the group, rusting gently off in an aimless direction before she could come to a conclusion on the matter.

Her lonesome test subject however, was soon replaced by another, and another, until countless legions of the little buggers skimmed to and fro among the dead city, as if out of nowhere.

Statues opened up like doors, the ground itself unearthed metal beings, bags and boxes were suddenly opened mysteriously, birthing more of the mechanical insects.

"What are they doing?" Tsukasa questioned to the sorceress, who could only quietly contemplate to herself that very same question.

"Looks like they're cleaning or something…maybe this is how the old city stays fresh?" The azure knight Konata pointed out, watching as the laborer's effortlessly wiped the grime off of the city streets, the cobwebs clinging to every dark corner, not one stone was left unturned when it came to their tireless duty.

"This is astounding, just who were these people? Architecture the likes of which even kings are unaware, technology far exceeding anything we've ever seen. Where did they get the resources? How were they able to accomplish this?" The bubbly mage continued to gush, feeling her brain fizzle to its limits as she admired the ancient civilization, long since extinct, yet still so full of life.

Feeling a gentle tug on her rustling pant leg, Patty looked downward to see one of the bantam bots prodding at her exposed flesh through a careless hole, and she couldn't help but smile as she watched it work. As if from nowhere, several compartments were opened like dresser drawers on its hull, unsheathing a needle and string.

Without pause, the mech tailored the niggling hole up post haste, before moving on to the girls ratty and walk-weary shoes.

"Guys look; these little guys do a lot more than clean!" Patty enthusiastically hummed as she reached down to pet the miniature mech, only for it to bob with alarm at the girls touch, skating away with the erratic movement of an insect.

"These aren't demon-make; these are the creation of men." Misao noted as observed the machines labor devoutly to their long dead masters, noticing a golden crest chiseled on the hulls of the synthetic arthropods.

The gleaming emblem that shown upon the mechanical workers surface nearly caused the perceptive slave to lose her cool; it was the royal symbol that plastered their metal bodies, King Allant's embroidery.

"There's no friggin' way..." She whispered to herself, shakily watching as her companions frivolously played with the beasts without a care in the world. "Guys, I think we've overstayed out welcome, we should _really _be going." Misao warned cautiously once more, earning only a sputter of laughter from the girls as they poked and prodded at the wonders of science.

"Why? We're in no rush, are we? Besides, I'd love to figure out just what makes these things tick." Miyuki gently protested as she wrapped her arms around one of the squirming little mechs, embracing it lightly in her arms and lifting it to her face with bewilderment gleaming in her eyes.

"Look, something about these things ain't…natural, just trust me, alright? I really think we should be going." The slave warned one final time, but her exhortations would go unheeded as the steel arachnid in Miyuki's arms suddenly latched itself upon her face with an earth-shattering cry, which was only outshined by the mage's own frightened wail.

Grasping roughly onto the antagonizing machine on her person, Miyuki forcefully ripped the clingy bug away, tossing it mercilessly to the ground with a crash and a thud, which alerted nearly every other member of the swarm that consumed the dead city.

"What did I tell you?" Misao mumbled under her breath as she crushed her spear into the squirming monstrosity on the ground, turning her attention to the now converging horde all around them. "These ain't worker bees; they're Allants little soul suckers. Just where d'ya think this cities people've gone? That bastards hunger never ceases to amaze…" Misao gritted almost in a hurt fashion, tightening her grip around her spear and tipping it at the approaching menace.

"We can't take them all, can we?" Konata asked with a nervous laugh as she unsheathed her blade, to which the slave could only tiredly shrug her shoulders.

"Oh most definitely not, but why fight when you can flight?" The slave questioned to her companion as she surveyed her surroundings, which shown naught but lakes of lava and the decrepit ruins that filled the expanse around them dauntingly like a prison.

With the untrained, frightened group of girls at her back, and the legion of mechanized monsters at her front, Misao couldn't help but feel like she was caught up in a cause that didn't concern her, what her ever the wise master saw in these fools, she couldn't know, but it was not her place to know, it was her place to fetch.

"Ah, well, I hate to do this gang, but I think this is where we part ways." Misao cheerfully revealed to the group with a goofy grin, not even a whiff of malice laden behind her words.

"Excuse me?" Kagami questioned with a tone not unlike any she held when Konata pestered her so, to which the slave could only offer a gentle heave of her shoulders.

"You're excused, and as am I, later!" The servant huffed as she jetted herself upwards into the air with inhuman agility and speed, catapulting her petite frame nearly thirty feet skyward, gracefully floating over the rabid band of machines below her and plopping delicately upon a perfectly carved roof of an adjacent building.

"Where the hell is she going?" Kagami asked almost frightened to hear the answer as she turned to her companions, whose faces offered little reassurance. "That coward…_you little coward!_" Kagami fumed angrily, gripping her sword and swinging it in a fury at the approaching machines, slicing some of them clear down the middle, ridding their synthesized bodies of a black and pasty substance.

Konata could do naught but ignore her tsundere's rage as she focused her concentration on the upcoming opponents, who briskly leapt into the air like grasshoppers, their spring-like legs heaving them gently upwards at the defending group.

Her swinging blade tore through the soaring bugs with finesse, cleaving them to pieces and sending the litter fluttering in every direction. She could do nothing but steadily breathe as she assessed the sheer number of them, which counted well in the thousands.

With every one she cut down, two more took its place, they seemed almost as one being as she looked upon their horde, a metal sea beaming a bright burnt orange all around them, their sparkling head-cases crackling furiously with a sound not unlike an open flame humming in the girls ears as they fought valiantly against the legion.

"Miyuki, don't suppose you've got any spells tucked away for just such an occasion?" Konata asked hopefully, her wily grin melting into a stern grimace at the face her bubbly friend gave her. "That's what I was afraid of…" She cheeked shamelessly, hacking another few of the monsters down as she breathed tirelessly, the heat of the magma around them was really starting to get to her, it sapped her energy in a way akin to the colorless fog.

"Just curious, did she actually leave us to die? Did I really see that?" Kagami mocked hopelessly as she wrote a story of blood with her blade, to which her gentle sister could only effortlessly shrug.

"Seems that way, onee-chan." Tsukasa downwardly scoffed, turning her attention to an approaching abomination and clenching her eyes shut with shame as she cleanly cracked it in two with her blade, feeling a swath of guilt riddle her heart as she did so. While not technically alive, she found it hard to harm even these creatures, after all, they were made by man, as was she. In this way, she saw them both as children of men, and to cause detriment to any was a sin she herself could not tolerate, but Boletaria is full of sin, and following a code of pacifism in a land of sin wasn't applicable.

"Forget her! What about us? We can't stay here and fend these things off forever!" The archer Patty interjected with a whistle from her bow as she unleashed an arrow into her target, which nearly exploded from the piercing crush of her arrow.

"Well we could, I mean-oh forget it, even I don't think I can crack wise right now!" Konata laughed to herself more than anyone, feeling her blade leave her hands as it stuck itself into the twinkling brain of one of the spiders, which was then slowly consumed by the endless sea of mechs around them.

Turning tail, the azure knight beheld one of the mighty statues of the Dragon God, now painted brutally with the onyx essence that jetted from the dead hulls of the arachnids, and she knew they had no choice but to climb.

"Higher ground, we have to get to…climb the statue!" Konata breathed out incoherently as she instructed her companions to obey the order, and none did protest, nor could they if they wanted to.

The scrambling group steadily heaved themselves upwards onto the granite behemoth, holding onto its mighty form helplessly and looking downward with dread as the machines swarmed around the base of the statue with fervor, clinking and clanking their way ever higher, it would not be long until they rid the metropolis bereft of life of its final visitors.

Usually so quick to act in these tense situations, the azure knight Konata found that she was at a loss as she examined any possible means of escape, and while they would eventually tire, she knew the mechanized little demons would not, and sitting there and biding their time would do no good.

Glancing into the eyes of her dear Kagamin, who dreamily swooned back at her with helplessness, Konata knew she could not give in, not now, surely there was something she could do.

The horrified howling of her friends did nothing to calm her nerves however, and certainly did nothing to nourish her mind with any bright ideas.

The cold metal grip of one of the spiders suddenly made its presence known upon her leg, and looking downward, soon both of her dangling limbs were held captive by the belligerent little oddities, and with a surprisingly powerful show of strength for the miniscule beasts, Konata was ripped forcefully from her roosted position on the memorial and sent toppling downward to the musty ground with a harsh roll, feeling nothing but the steely metal slice its way into her tender flesh as she was swarmed by the horde.

Out of her foggy vision, she could see her brave companions yanked downward into the swarm one by one until the statue laid bare, but she didn't have time for any afterthoughts, her consciousness was fading slowly but surely, she could only pray for some quite unlikely miracle to be their liberator.

But something seemed so unnatural about the state she found herself captive within, it felt groggy, stiff, there was no gentle hold of rest about it, it felt forced. Her chest twanged with a gentle pain, and turning to the cause, a needle buried deep beneath her flesh, protruding from the exposed hull of the spider. Could it have been a toxin, slowly molding itself within her flowing veins?

The thought passed from her fizzling brain as she felt a tightness about her form. She could've sworn it felt almost thread-like, warm and sticky, enveloping her as she allowed the crushing darkness of slumber to take her.

* * *

"I step out for one second and you guys get killed by spiders…that's great, just fantastic. If you're really dead in there I'm gonna be pissed, not to mention out of a job, so look lively eh?" A far-off voice bellyached to seemingly no one in particular, but as Konata slowly rose to the sound of that badgering little wail, she couldn't help but recall it as familiar.

A sound not unlike the shredding of sheets followed up the annoying moaning of the bodiless voice, and as the bluenette's hearing returned, so too did her vision, which in her direct line of view, shown nothing but shadowed darkness.

A thin stream of light pierced her body from the ebony expanse, which soon beat violently against her chest in a thick column, piercing her sleep-weary eyes with its brilliant gaze.

The assailing light was dampened with the presence of an intruder, who's dimly hazel eyes twinkled with bliss as she beheld her dozing companion, strangely enough safe from harm.

"Oh good, you're still breathing at least. How about a smile for auntie Misao to see if them nasty old toxins have worn off." The voice revealed to be Misao gently commanded, only to earn a sloppy looking half-smile that could've passed for a frown, or maybe her nose just itched really badly, the slave couldn't really discern too well in the shadowed light within the silky cocoon the knight found herself enclosed within.

"Whazzat…? Is it Christmas?" The droopy voice of the still dreamy Konata gently questioned as she slowly but sure came to what little sense she could muster.

Slicing the remaining twanging wires of thread that roughly pulled against the azure knight's flesh, Misao's face contorted wryly as her sedated companion tumbled graceless out of the perfectly sewn pod and onto the dusty earth, gently rubbing the bridge of her nose at the spectacle with shameless awe.

"Yeah, well, I 'spose that'll have to do for now. Come on champ, up and at 'em." The abraded servant commanded to the captive she had let loose from her silken prison, heaving the heap of a girl up onto her wobbling feet and steadying her with a tight arm around the shorter girls shoulder.

"What did you get me? Oh, is it my dad? Man, I wouldn't mind him coming home for Christmas…" Konata drowsily asked with a sudden burst of giggles, erasing any coherence from her voice, and only adding more effort onto Misao's shoulders to keep the bumbling mess of a girl vertical.

"I'm sure the two of you'll be roasting chestnuts over an open fire before you know it, but until then, what's say we make with the being hasty and get out of here, alright?" The slave brazenly joked as she cringed at the lump which formed steadily in her throat, this definitely was not good.

Her orders were very simple, clear-cut, and seemingly infallible, surely there was no way she could muck up such a curiously easy assignment so graciously bestowed upon her by her master. When you spend as much time being yanked around on a leash such as the thoughtful slave however, you come to realize mindlessly following orders to a queue can get rather arduous.

As she quivered almost girlishly at the gluey sacs of helpless victims all around her, she couldn't help but clench her sweaty palms firmly at her poor run of bad luck. After all, what were the odds she'd come face to face with quite literally the only fiend that walked the face of their vast planet to cause her skin to crawl.

"Spiders…why did it have to be _spiders_!" Misao moaned immaturely, hoisting the constantly drooping carry-on as she hoarsely chuckled and mumbled about some unseen colors that would make the known color spectrum jealous, likely a curious side effect from the arachnid toxin that flowed intrusively in the azure knight's veins.

"You got me _spiders_ for Christmas? Okay the bit's over, I'm so pulling your leg now, I'm not really as think as you poisoned I am…I just need a little nap." The now mentally sparse Konata cooed as her ability to walk failed her, declining vertically in her toxin-induced trance and roughly dragging the supporting slave with her.

"No you idiot, and ya can't sleep when you're poisoned! Or is that head injuries? Regardless, the more time you lay around snoozing, the more likely your friends are to get shredded to chum by those little mechanized bastards!" The slave nonchalantly warned, knowing her dispirited protests would do no good when the only reaction Konata offered to her friends' imminent doom was a cackle of croaky snickers.

"Yuck, not a fan of seafood, gives me the squirts…" Konata whispered dryly as she dazed in and out of the murky slumber that clenched profusely at her twitching eyeballs, she could barely discern where she was at that moment, and even less knowledgeable was who she spoke with, but everything at that moment seemed so awesome she had damn near forgotten any woes that darkened her mind anyway.

"How have you even survived this long chibikko?" Misao griped with a tinge of genuine interest, the haughty little fool of a girl certainly didn't seem to be the type who could have such survival skills, maybe it was just dumb luck she mused,. She couldn't help but laugh at herself when she noticed her dirtied hands were scrubbing the syrupy, spider-pasted scalp of the girl for some measure of good luck, maybe it rubbed off, but the very notion could only bring about a sigh from deep within the weary slave, for she knew she could certainly use it.

The dreg's ear couldn't help but twang unpleasantly at the spiteful cry of another ringing in her ears; she could not contain the weariness she felt as she sought out its commander, which was easy, as she noticed the fumbling and squiggling cocoon above her head.

"Yeah, shut up, I hear ya." Misao grumbled with an adroit twirl of her mighty spear, severing the hovering tomb from its sticky tendrils and collapsing it onto the squishy floor, accompanied by the gruff groans of its prisoner.

Carving her way down the center of the silken encasement with the prowess of a surgeon, and tearing aside the interior walls, Misao hummed lightly as her eyes met the orbs of the girl inside, and could do nothing but clench her eyes harshly as a jagged swipe crunched into face without warning.

"You smarmy little backstabber!" The bloodthirsty voice echoed, ridding its bearer of her silken shell and revealing the begetter to be the older of the Hiiragi twins, a flaming curl of aggression within her usually reposing gaze.

"Probably had that coming." The slave breathed composedly, wiping the gentle leak of blood that trickled down her lip, only for the wound to wretch achingly outward with another fierce clock to her curved cheek.

"You had that coming too, and there's more where that came from!" Kagami erupted violently, collapsing herself upon her victim and readying another haymaker, which planted itself straight into the girls heaving throat, bringing about exasperated gasps for air and the hacking of clumped saliva from her twitching throat.

"Oh c-c-come on, be reasonable, ain'tcha at least gonna give me a chance to explain myself?" Misao cooed hopefully, roughly squirming her grappled wrists held in place by the assailing warrior.

"And just how would you explain leaving us to die? Ya got a good reason for that, huh? Do ya? I don't think you can justify that, not no way, not no how." Kagami asked croakily, her shaking demeanor easing her punching bag's mind a little. This girl had never taken a life before, and her exposed rage gave no hints of the gentle soul inside, there was no menace in her eyes, only pain.

"Look, I know I was pretty textbook cowardly back there but…ya gotta understand. We all got fears, yeah? Well, mine just happens to be those spindly little shit's what gave us a hard time. I can't explain it, just never liked spiders…something about being trapped, hanging by strings, oiled up and secured in that leathery rope…" Misao began somewhat genuinely, a hard lump seated complacently in her humming throat. "Ain't no one like to be tied up on a leash…held in place, no way to save yourself. It's just never been my thing, if I ain't in control I just kinda freeze up. No other reason I swear it, I was jobbed with protecting you folks, and I mean to." She finished bravely, molding her glare to be as stony as could be; she had to have that serious air about her.

Silently coming down from her burst of acrimony, Kagami searched the hazel eyes of her companion for any doubt, but she could sense nothing but absolute truth in her core.

Releasing her firm grip and freeing the servant, the tsundere stood to catch her breath, wiping a pesky line of saliva that had slipped down her chin in the mindless anger, and offering her open palm to the beaten girl at her feet.

Allowing herself to be anchored upwards, Misao smiled haughtily as she smeared the crimson streaks of liquid that messily poured from her lip, thanking the gods above the fiery warrior's anger had been stayed.

The gritting marks of flushed skin upon her wrists stung mightily, what inhuman strength this girl possessed the slave mused, were it her choice she could've easily severed her tanned arms from her very body with a hauling grip. Misao couldn't help but feel uneasy when she noticed the golden center of Kagami's lavender eyes; did she even know what ailed her?

A sudden series of gasps and frantic coughs broke her train of thought, the internal spasms resonating from the heap of blue hair that painted the ground around them. The two leaned down gently by their half-conscious companion, Kagami's flustered expression melting into one of horror at the sight of her dear friend.

"My god…wh-what happened to her?" She asked her guide, steadying the bluenette's sweat-caked head affectionately in her arms, caressing the girls' forehead and pulling away at the harsh burning sensation she felt.

"Poisoned, one of them managed to stick her." Misao whispered, helplessly leaning down to the sickly woman's pulsating chest and pressing an ear firmly to it. "Heartbeat is faint, oh man, that shit's really made its way through her body." She downwardly assessed, nearly feeling the hum of panic radiating from the lilac knight.

"Well I…what do we do? I-Is there an antidote or…? How do we help her?" Kagami questioned as she patted her corrupted friends face in a futile effort to keep her semi-conscious, but the incoherent babbling gurgling from her throat did nothing to ease her worry.

"I don't know. In all my days I've spent in this hellhole I never once dared to come in here, hate spiders remember?" Misao chuckled unnervingly, lifting the encompassing shirt over the otaku's head in an effort to locate the wound, which made itself known in the presence of a puffy and infected looking lump on the girls' collarbone.

"Oh my god." The lilac knight whispered, running her hands coolly over the throbbing protrusion, feeling the gluey toxins seeping from the bloody burrows the mechanical fangs scarred upon the bluenette's opaque bosom.

"Yeah, god oh my…that certainly doesn't look good." Misao noted rather obviously, only now realizing just how deep the wound really was, and even worse, _where_ it was. The bitty breaches in her skin lay directly above her heart, the toothy chomp had collapsed directly through her rib cage, it wouldn't surprise her if it pierced her ticker either.

"Well, what do we do dammit? We can't just sit here and gawk, we need to do something!" Kagami furiously ordered, gliding her heated palms over the slumbering girls beaded chest, her breathing was slowing down, her struggling lungs seemed to be pushing themselves to the limit in an effort to get more oxygen.

Tapping her friend's face harshly, Kagami sighed with relief when a lazy emerald ogle met her lumbering form, a cheeky smile drawing itself upon its bearer.

"Hey there Kagamin…" Sleepily the call hummed, a quivering hand resting itself upon the blushed cheek of the shadow that levitated above her warmly.

"Hey sleepyhead…you uh…well, we think you might've gotten poisoned." Kagami urgently explained, yet with a sense of care to it, which all but erased itself when a painful breath tore itself from Konata's agitated throat.

"That's great…I was wondering what that tickly feeling in my tummy was… thought maybe I had indigestion. But hey, you uh, you haven't seen my dad have you? I can't seem to find him anywhere, where did he go?" The gentle buzz of the envenomed soul enquired confusedly, feeling as if each word that slipped from her lips grew heavier, more difficult to utter.

"Yeah that'd be shock. Alright sunshine no more fooling around, we need to do something about this little illness that's taken a fancy to your insides, alright?" Misao hurriedly adjured, wasting no time in ridding her pocket of a gleaming knife and pressing it sharply into her patient without warning, the cringing cry that resulted sending shivers throughout her body.

"What are you doing?" The hysteric tone in her voice could not be shielded as Kagami asked the slave of her intentions, cupping her mouth in displeasure as Konata's wound was pried open roughly, revealing all manner of muscle and sinew held delicately in her inner framework.

"No choice, she's got one foot in the grave, that toxin is coming out the hard way." Misao loftily announced, burying her lips directly over the exposed flesh and sucking vigorously, leaning upwards to spill a thick and mucus-like substance from her mouth, feeling her pink muscle within numb like ice.

"But the poison has probably spread by now…" Kagami whispered in disbelief as Misao continued to absorb more and more seemingly lethal globs of blight, belching the slimy fluid onto the ground in heaps, feeling her body grow lighter with each discharge of poison from her lips.

"Probably, but I can't have you sods dyin' on me now...I-I…I have a reputation to uphold." Bilious and gentle was her tone as Misao leaned down to inhale another flush of acid into her system, it was a very powerful toxin indeed, she could feel her own breathing stiffen as its sour flavor seeped into her taste buds.

Watching as the fruits of her companion's labor went to waste, huffing glob after glob of the pasty liquid from Konata's infected veins, the thoughtful tsundere couldn't help but wonder. Her own existence as a mere mortal was in question as a result of recent events, and while she whispered a word of it to no one, it had been weeks since she felt the steady beat of her aching heart.

When she was cut she did not bleed, her saliva no longer profusely clung to her mouth, she was beginning to wonder whether or not she was even alive anymore. But per chance, this may've been exactly what was needed at that moment.

Brushing the dizzy slave aside, Kagami held up a hand in protest at the girl's accusations, if she kept her little operation going, the poison would kill her as surely as it was killing her dear friend, and she sure didn't want to have to attempt this twice.

"You owe me so hard for this." Kagami gently giggled, baring her canines and leaning down with a vehemently heated face, she couldn't recall ever being this close to Konata, not ever, not face to face anyhow.

Clamping her dry lips hard onto the bluenette's bruised collar, Kagami calmly sipped the leaky juices from the wound, and unlike the drudge, she felt no twang of ache consume her, in fact, she didn't feel anything at all.

Batch by batch of the toxin was stirred from the sleeping girls veins without pause, the lilac knight didn't even waste any time spitting the harmful liquid out, she downed it like hard liquor, fast and without feeling. She knew the deadly blight could do nothing to her already wretched and contaminated insides, hell maybe they'd even act as a deterrent, but she could only scoff at the mere idea of her luck being anything more than non-existent.

She knelt in this position for what seemed like nearly five minutes, silent, without sheen in her listless eyes as she wearily undertook the task of venom-sucker, how Konata would mock her mercilessly for this were the girl awake, she could only pray the little troublemaker would be none the wiser.

The entire ground around them was covered in a sickly and discolored plaster, and Kagami knew she couldn't really remove every ounce of toxin that clouded her friends body, removing the ailment from the direct vicinity of her hammering heart would have to be enough until they could get her proper medical attention.

Turning to her shocked onlooker, Kagami found that Misao's face was contorted into one of sheer fright; her pupils were dilated beyond belief, her oscillating mouth agape with awe.

What consumed her body was all but apparent now the servant noticed, the lilac knight's alluring purple eyes were now a crispy aurous hue, cloudy and dead looking, what she had suspected was now confirmed.

"You're not human, are you?" The question came without expression nor tone, it was heavy in its words, but held almost no weight to it, as if Misao was asking a question she already knew the answer to. Catechizing her ally on such a matter seemed ironic to one such as the slave though, how human was a pup on a leash such as her?

While it would have weeks ago, the inquiry did not stitch her insides, she had accepted her fate with little denial of what her end would be, which wouldn't be long in her current state. What better way to spend your final days than with those you love most? This is what she figured, when Kagami agreed to the asinine request her beloved best friend presented to her, a suicide quest for a more than likely deceased individual.

"I was. But now I…" Was all Kagami could manage to mutter before she felt the dusty cringe of her tear ducts, so desperately attempting to cry, to release the inner turmoil without shame, but it seemed her illness wouldn't even allow her such a simple courtesy.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that looks like Dreg-disease. You got hit by one, did you?" Misao asked as she motioned towards the girl, tenderly clasping an open palm to the pseudo-dregling's shoulder, it was icy to the touch.

"Yes." She muttered under her breath at the question, loosening her pant leg to reveal the infected and pulsating scar of the shambling demon that had struck her, the mark oozed with puss and other disgusting juices, and while no expert on the subject, Misao knew she was far along in the process, it wouldn't be long until the woman before her was just a mindless, soul-devouring beast like the rest of Boletaria.

Cautiously gripping her spear, Misao was ashamed she even ushered in such thoughts of self defense against her compatriot, she was still of able mind and body, affliction or no, such behavior was unbecoming of a guardian such as herself. Yet she could not contain her anguish, how many citizens of Boletaria had been riddled inside out with the disease and joined the legions of gruesome and barbaric husks that roamed the darkest corners?

It would be a courtesy she figured, if she just cut down her ally right here and now despite her superior's orders, but she found she could not, the will to take lives within her wasn't as strong as she'd of liked it to be, her soft spot got her in trouble more times than she could count.

"Please don't tell the others, I don't want them to worry. And…besides, your friend Kuroi, she told me there's a cure." Kagami hopefully noted, shamefully hiding her clawed fingers behind her back and curling them within one another gingerly.

"Cure? I ain't never heard of a cure, but if Nanako-Chan says it's true, it probably is. And hate to break it to ya darling, but the gang's gonna notice your beaming lookers there." Misao pointed out with a chuckle, trying to alleviate the heavy mood that clung to the air as much as she was able.

"Lookers?" Kagami questioned to herself, unsheathing her blade and analyzing her obscured appearance within its reflection. Her sharp gaze penetrated the steel with a yellow as flush as any sunflower, her nails were filed to an almost razor-edge, as were her teeth, the skin around her eyes had a light bruised coloration to it akin to a raccoon.

Had she not noticed these subtle yet frightening changes in her appearance, and by the gods how had her friends been ignorant to them? Haven't cut your nails in awhile, Konata had joked to her, you look like you need more sleep, the bluenette had advised. Passing small talk was all she had taken it for, but it seemed her friends' rude comments were far more real than she had realized.

Bitterly she stared down at her slumbering friend, how she wished she could blame her even partially for what had consumed her, how she wished to damn the girl to every hell in the book, but she did not feel anger as she gazed upon the girl, she felt only grief.

Konata had not forced her to accompany her that day, she had not forced her to follow her to Boletaria, these dilemmas were the constructs of her own foolish behavior, of the admiration she felt for the devil she considered a friend.

She had nobody to blame but herself, but the very idea of admonishing herself for her affections put a foul wrench in her gut, destiny or chance were the only things she could chalk it up to, blaming a metaphysical and likely non-existent force of nature was the only thing she felt right accusing.

Caressing the dozing otaku's pink oily cheek, Kagami couldn't help but smile. If she in the same situation, the same circumstances, the same damned kingdom that attempted to claim her life at every turn, and the same carping illness that dominated her, she wouldn't have even spared a second glance to the idea of doing it any differently.

Sighing lazily as she scratched her head awkwardly at the tender scene, Misao couldn't help it when she let out an acrid grumble of displeasure, knowing that every second with the two sickly girls charred their lit fuses a bit shorter.

"Sorry, you're right. The others are probably in danger, what am I thinking?" Kagami clumsily articulated, boosting her somnolent friend into her arms and cradling her loose neck against her chest, switching her gaze to the endless series of tunnels around them, this hive was a regular labyrinth.

"About time you wrapped that up, because it looks like we've got company anyway." Stern was Misao's voice as she gripped the length of her pole arm securely, pronging it at the dancing shadows that daubed the web-laden stone walls.

Numerous in their hasty migration, a legion of the noisy little metal bugs suddenly emerged from every cavity in the cocoon-pimpled cavern, swarming themselves downward and past the group of intruders altogether.

"The hell…? On your toes, ya hear? I don't like it when my enemies ignore me, usually means something worse." Misao ordered expertly, cautiously motioning the lilac knight to tail her naught but an inch behind, following the endless crew of insects seemed to be their best bet, keeping an eye on the enemy was always a good idea, and even better, the mechanized menaces could lead them to the others.

Grouping themselves in amongst the bundles of spindly demons, Misao couldn't help but shiver as the algid legs of the creatures pressed softly upon her shoeless feet. Synthetic or not, a spider was a spider to her, the lanky vermin were all the same.

The constant flowing stream of bugs led their stalkers to an expansive and open chamber, enormous in size, dwarfing the ancient city of the mines in comparison by a large margin.

The ashen walls were burdened by the clingy webs of the laboring beasts, speckled here and there with clumps of perfectly sewn cocoons, each likely containing some poor soul who fell into their clutches.

All signs of where the herd was going pointed ever downward to the cushiony ground congested by breaches and gaps, leading ever deeper into the crust of the archaic city.

What took the two travelers aback most was what lay beneath the bleached thread, buildings crafted not unlike those seen in the abandoned metropolis, mightily crafted with stone pillars. Idols to their god of dragons still present within the snow-white streets, but entangled by the web like everything else.

It wasn't just architecture or sculptures either, faceless embodiments vaguely resembling humans stood motionless in their final moments, as if they died doing whatever it was they had been achieving just then, frozen in time and bandaged in the clammy fabric.

A mass grave and an eternal tomb was what lay beneath the ever-growing hive, what had undone this ancient race was becoming alarmingly clear. Even worse was the thought of how or why it had happened, these creations were seemingly composed by the hands of man, so why did they bite the hand that fed them, that had given them the greatest of all gifts, life?

"Where are they all going?" Kagami sounded from the silence, earning only an ambiguous noise that could've passed for a cough or a grumble.

"Same place we are unfortunately. Before I came to save you and the wonder kid there, I saw these soul-suckers take the rest of the crew downstairs. I don't know why, but we really don't have time to question it, we move, now." Misao commanded with an odd seriousness, leading the march down the vertically-challenged frosted dip before them, the massive crater than had held a thriving civilization.

The incoherent babble that escaped Konata's lips provided some comfort to Kagami as she trekked downward into the abyss of the departed dell, she could only pray the steadily weakening soul could hold on but a short while longer, she hoped that was all it would take anyway.

Her own internal clock was ticking down to doomsday as well she figured, today, tomorrow, a week from now, it wouldn't matter. She'd be a moaning husk like the rest of Boletaria if she didn't expend a dash more urgency in her efforts, and what good would saving herself be if she couldn't even save those she cared for?

Lucid minds made for decisive and tactful decisions, and she could let her mind wander to the irrelevant no more, the task at hand was all that mattered, the docile breath from the azure knight that beat at her neck was all that mattered; salvaging any hope of saving Boletaria from its fate was all that mattered.

* * *

From afar, the girls were oblivious to a watchful overseer of their actions, a steady eye that followed each bend of their knees, each waver of their eyes. This gaze singled out the leader of the three in particular, the beaten, tanned girl who so readily would give her life for those she swore to protect.

The witch was not entirely heartless, and while her actions concerning her bonded servant were swift and without mercy, she couldn't allow failure in this mission of dire importance.

An unseen hand to offer them comfort, a map to guide them, the hilt for their blades, she would be all of these things without their knowing.

After all, how could she consider herself an admirable master if she didn't loosen the leash now and again?

* * *

**Author's Note: **Delicious fluff, wish I could've added more but this stupid chapter really gave me some writer's block. Wanna know why it took a week and a half to update? I re-wrote this chapter numerous times that's why, not liking any of the drafts and not even being satisfied with this final one. If the episode seems without point, and a little aimless, this is on purpose, consider it a part one to a part two. The pacing of the story is going to change from here on out, I simply cannot keep up with every chapter having the girls fight some cankerous demon, can I? Plus admittedly I wanted to wrap up this "Dragon God Arc" as fast as possible to move onto the next, so I can introduce a character I've been waiting to do since the beginning of this damn tale. And yes, it's one of the girls. Keep up your awesome reviews and hits and I'll keep shoveling out chapters to this crappy story, deal? Alright, cool. Hasta la bye bye!


	14. Sustained by Hate

**Lucky Souls **

* * *

**Chapter 14: Sustained by Hate **

"Come live with me and be my love, and we will all the pleasures prove, that hill and valley, dale and field, and all the craggy mountains yield." Magically bewitching were the lyrics that escaped her breathless lips as she sang cheerlessly, seeking any measure of hope to rid herself of the crushing anguish which poisoned her heart.

The domineering gloss of inky smoke that loomed over the dell, roaring flames that melted the buildings to ash, and the pools of maroon essence that seeped from the bodies of her loved ones hauntingly. Screams of terror echoed in the air, the crackle of white hot lightning in the skies above, thunderous winds and vicious rainstorms as cold as ice not enough to douse the flames that spread so callously.

Within her blurry tear-caked gaze, her eyes shakily fell upon her mother, lifeless and silent, her crumpled body lazily forming a shield around her dear daughter, shielding her from the evil that sinned upon their quiet dell.

Sword in hand, and courage steeled into aged body, the girl's father had tried desperately to face the depraved beings, only to find the same abysmal eternity of death at his heel.

Her gentle cyan eyes stung mercilessly with leaky tears, her tiny body was broken in more ways than one. Here she sat alone, the blood of her mother staining her bosom, the howling of her father as he met his end sounding within her, for some time.

The carnage ended, as all times of sorrow must, and in the wake of the terror she found she could barely brave an inch, her caved-in knee saw to that quite cruelly.

Death was hard to understand for one as pure and young as she, but she knew life wasn't worth living without her treasured loved ones; it seemed so empty and hollow, without purpose.

Smoothly unburying her body from her mother's shadowing form, the adolescent girl steadily sprawled herself onto the musty wooden ground of her cottage, helplessly crawling like an infant towards the outside world.

Surveying the horror wordlessly, she felt the croak of salty tears wish to fume from her yet again, but found they would not.

The sadness she felt could not be expunged by any simple means, crying would not relieve her of the stress she holed up inside, the only thing she could hope for was the sweet release of a painless death.

"Patty-Chan…? Patty-Chan, wake up."

Dragging her mangled limb behind her, a brilliant and sunny summer's day sky reflected within her eyes, ignorant to the horror that had beset her hamlet but hours ago. It seemed in the grand scheme of things, the death of her friends and family meant nothing, the destruction of all she held dear meant absolutely nothing in the steady flow of time.

"Patty-Chan! She's just…no she's alright Tsukasa, she's just unconscious. Patty-Chan please you need to wake up, they're coming."

Was it luck or chance that had damned her? Was it fate or destiny that made these sorrows reality? Did her tormentors enjoy defiling the boundless peace that held her home in its affable grip?

Pointless questions begetting pointless answers she didn't wish to know, what had passed was done, what her future held would never be the same. As she lay upon the soggy soil, surrounded by demolished buildings that still tenderly baked beneath flame, and the hacked apart bodies of everyone she cared for, something as romantic as the forthcoming life she would never live seemed utterly absurd, not to mention selfish.

"Y-Yuki-Chan! They're here!"

As depressingly droll as it all seemed, behind the darkness she couldn't help but wish for a light, she couldn't help but cling to the life that was stolen from her, maybe it was just the natural human temperament to avoid death, but it felt like much more. Something within wouldn't allow her to die as much as she begged for it to take her, as if she had more to do with her remaining time, a greater purpose, there was that striking selfishness again she mused wearily.

Regardless of what had happened, and indifferent to what awaited her now ambiguous future, as that young battered girl lay there alone and forsaken, her aimless thoughts could only flash violently to mindless revenge, retaliation for the band of souls that had wronged her so mercilessly.

"Patty-Chan, wake up."

* * *

At the sound of these words, the colorless dream that clouded her mind troubled her no more as the slumbering archer returned to the waking world, drearily shaking her stiffened face and focusing in on the blurs of pink and purple features that clouded her vision.

Her foggy eyes set themselves upon the ever-tender Tsukasa, her face painted into an expression as sunny as ever, her deep blue eyes heaving with relief at her darling friend's safety.

On the side opposite Tsukasa, Patty felt her skin crawl skittishly at the very sight of those alluring pink locks, stringing themselves everywhere in a mess of a curly mane. She allowed herself a brief meeting with the mage's eyes, her heated reflection floating angrily within them.

While she knew this girl had done her no wrong, it was the face that set her off, that tender grin that so deeply resembled another, one could mistake them for twins.

"Good, you're awake, we need to-" The sorceress' hasty commands were cut off by the high pitched squeal of an approaching horde of ticking arachnids.

"Run! We need to run!" Tsukasa hastily finished, hoisting up the listless Patty effortlessly and snatching her companions' hands within her sweaty grasp without warning, yanking both along roughly.

The lifeless automatons were at their heel, jittering noisily with a plethora of clanks and clunks as the ocean of steel converged upon the fleeing warriors.

The cramped tunnels gave the escapees almost no room to navigate through, not to mention every single one looked the same, brown and dusty. Aimlessly fleeing in any direction the trio stumbled upon wouldn't be a very useful tactic to continuously imitate, and carving a quick plan out within her nervous brain, Miyuki silently wretched herself from Tsukasa's rough clasp.

Pressing her glasses to the bridge of her nose, the enchantress steadied her breathing rigorously, until the only thing that sung within her ears was her own heart beat.

Gently her fists trembled as the inner workings of the dark arts overtook her frame, and with a sudden jut downward of her scrunched fists, the caverns rocks crumbled like dust, collapsing in upon themselves in a small avalanche and sealing the entrance behind them.

Releasing herself from her trance, Miyuki eyed her fingernails regrettably, which all oozed a light trickle of blood. Shelving the twanging pain to the back of her mind, she nodded at her companions silently, knowing the horde could only be held behind a wall of stone for so long.

The trio was rid of the bottled squeeze of the tunnels quickly, instead finding themselves in an open chamber, massive webs coating the walls dauntingly all around, yet they saw no spiders, the room was completely lifeless.

Sensing that danger was no longer pestering them, Miyuki hesitantly allowed herself to drop to the ground, a hand wrapped painfully to her chest.

"Yuki-Chan!" Tsukasa stumbled out, her voice laden with worry as she knelt next to her heaving friend, horrifyingly eyeing Miyuki's blood-stained hands.

"It's fine…I just…I've spent a lot of energy today concentrating magic, please don't worry about me." She panted out in between breaths, earning only a childish grunt from her friend in response.

"Don't worry? Yuki-Chan, you're bleeding badly, you don't always have to push yourself so hard." The apprehensive Tsukasa protested, pulling her tightly wrapped bow from her hair and tearing it in half, gauzing the mage's crimson palms with an almost motherly care.

Patty watched the scene with sympathy, and her anger could only abate steadily as a cheerful giggle bust from Miyuki's lips. At the sound of the affectionate laughter, the archer couldn't help but wonder why someone such as her earned the right to smile so carelessly.

The resemblance was too uncanny to be coincidence, and feeling a harsh lump warp her throat with torment, Patty steeled herself as seriously as she could muster for what she had to ask.

"Takara-San, I need to ask you something." She began, interrupting the two snickering girls at her feet, who looked upon their towering comrade with slight discomfort at her stoic expression.

"Anything." Miyuki responded eagerly, not being the only one who sensed the dark cloud that seemed to loom over the archer's head every time she found herself within the woman's presence.

"I know you're probably not, but…well I…look, have you ever been to a village called Yoshimizu? A quiet little town on the edge of Boletaria, built on a mountainside." Patty mysteriously questioned, not really expecting any type of viable answer from the one she interrogated, but it was worth a shot considering the magnitude of what she spoke of.

Miyuki's eyes fluttered listlessly at her inquiry, it was without emotion or thought that she discarded the intriguing query to the back of her mind; she could not allow such things to run afoul within her thoughts.

"I've heard of it, but have never traveled there myself. Are you from there?" Miyuki lied shamefully, now averting her quaky eyes from the cleaving expression Patty wore.

"No, but I had a friend who lived there. When she was young, she and her family were killed by a pair of ruthless demons, and their master." The markswoman explained in a monotone fashion, a frightening departure from anything the normally perpetually pleasant woman expressed.

"I see…I am sorry." Miyuki apologized in an almost personal fashion, bowing her head respectfully and allowing Tsukasa to steadily elevate her weary body to a vertical position.

"No it's alright; I seem to have been mistaken, and sorry if my line of questioning seemed inappropriate. We are being chased by bloodthirsty demons, after all." Patty joked with a mocking sneer, nodding her head back to the continuing series of tunnels all around them, sitting around discussing the past probably wasn't the best idea, she figured.

"Oh, right. We should probably keep moving. The others might be in danger; we have no time to lose." Miyuki bravely commanded to her troupe, moving ahead and motioning for her unusually silent allies to follow suit.

Cautiously watching the markswoman, Tsukasa couldn't help but notice the girls balled fists that shook airily. Normally the cowardly little girl found herself to be the airhead in these types of situations, ignorant to the concealed emotions and daggers behind every word, but as Patty looked upon the mage at her front, the deceptive smile she curled did nothing to hide the seething hate that clung to each word.

This was not the time nor the place though, even the flighty Tsukasa knew that, and removing Patty from her silent musings with a tap, she too motioned for the group to continue in their hasty retreat, she could've sworn she heard the jangling stampede of mechanized menaces at her back, and she certainly didn't wish to contend with them a second time.

It took Patty a moment to remove herself from her hypnotic state and join her companions in their desperate fleeing, but gazing upon the bold magician at her front did nothing to ease the queasy feeling in her gut that vexed her so.

* * *

"That is one big ass spider." Misao moaned in sheer awe at the terrifying spectacle before her, nearly dropping her spear at the mere sight of the colossal monstrosity.

Its fragile exoskeleton molded within a powerful steel, the beast stood at least twenty feet tall, its eight gangly limbs protruding menacingly from the bulbous thorax at its armored back, laden with pipes oozing gentle clouds of steam that fogged the entire area. The queen's plated legs were pimpled with iron studs sharpened to a filed point, the tips being as deadly as any blade.

Massive mandibles chomped greedily at the incoming supplies of nourishment her children so readily offered her, hinging open and shut in an almost cycling fashion, the damnable thing really was more machine than beast.

The colossal arachnid held no biology within, it was completely synthetic down to its radiant core, which beat hauntingly with a red light that permeated from its gullet, bleeding onto every shadow within the chamber.

The walls around the demon were crafted more articulately than the messily made chambers of her children, with each cocoon slipped open perfectly, holding their rotten victims in place in an almost artistic fashion, the entire scene looked like a painting in some hellish museum.

This queen spider worked tirelessly, her fiddling prong-like legs rolling a shiny thread feverishly around a fresh corpse, the man within seemed to be sucked of his very life, his skin hung lazily to his burgundy form, the body was weak and emaciated in appearance.

Spread around her was her children, assembling heartily around their progenitor in the masses, radiating orbs of golden light clinging like stars within their metal grasps.

"What are those things they're carrying?" Kagami asked her guide, her voice imbued with a hesitant tone.

"Well, take a guess. They're demons, and what is a demon's favorite dish?" Misao mockingly questioned, practically hearing the gulp that slinked down her companions' throat.

"Souls…" She answered as if she could hardly believe it herself, steadily holding her heaving thought at the unbelievable thought. There wasn't just one or two of the brilliant orbs of light, but thousands, how many souls had this gluttonous creature devoured? How many lives had her endless sea of imps shorted out to feed her insatiable appetite? The very thought put naught but sorrow within her, but such there were other times to mourn for such things, now was not one of them.

"Souls!" Konata mimicked playfully, still under the heavy impressions of the murky poison that streamed itself throughout her steadily weakening body.

"Konata, shush! This isn't the time for your games." Kagami groaned irately, clamping a commanding palm over the bluenette's mouth, nearly wanting to explode on the poor drugged girl when she felt the soft, wet slither of her probing tongue upon her flesh.

"You're gonna want to deal with that one as quietly as possible Hiiragi, unless you want to join the legions of the damned down there, savvy?" The slave prodded, sighing with woe as she turned her attention back to the daunting creature before her, what a sight it was. For anyone but her it would've been quite the spectacle, but all she saw was a consuming, trapping monstrosity that tugged her insides just by looking in its direction.

Her murky glaring tore itself into horror at the site of a pinkish blob within her field of vision, trailed closely by two strikingly familiar faces.

"Oh you've gotta be kiddin' me." The slave whispered in disbelief, alerting Kagami's attention to whatever sight had made the girl gasp so, to which her sinking heart could only agree.

"Tsukasa!" Kagami screeched out without any measure of thought at the trouble sight, alarming not only her baffled twin and her companions, but every soul devouring demon in the area, the gluttonous queen included.

"Nice going." Misao breathed sarcastically, unhinging her spear and diving without warning into the queen's lair below her, heroically stomping in front of her comrades in a cloud of dust.

"Misakichi!" Patty excitedly wailed, halting her chirpy reunion at the thunderous boom of the roaring queen at their front, who bucked herself ravenously like a galloping steed, crushing her mighty pincers clear into the solid ground at her feet.

"I told you to stop calling me that, and what the hell do you think you're doing? Do you often stumble idiotically into a nest of demons? Or do you just enjoy having me save your sorry asses _that_ much?" The continuously bothered drudge asked her dumbstruck companions, who eyeballed her curiously, hadn't she left the poor souls to perish in the heat of combat earlier?

Noticing their cautious gazes, Misao huffed a steady sigh, preparing herself for an honest explanation but found that the queen would allow her no such courtesy, the gargantuan demon had already began to lumber threateningly in their direction, pronging her slicing mandibles in an aggressive, territorial fashion.

"No time to explain, just stay out of my way and let me work!" The servant haughtily announced, bull-charging the demon with a forked spear, meeting its aggressive stance as much as she could despite her timid and tiny size, even the smallest of creatures could ward off the biggest predators if they looked intimidating enough, nature sure was funny that way.

Halting her advance Misao gritted her bloody soles into the squishy ground, catapulting herself inhumanly at the mech, piercing its wriggling skull with a mighty jab, lodging her spear in the demons inner circuits and brutally yanking the weapon back and forth, trying to cause as much internal damage as was possible.

The beast roared in a cry almost akin to something that felt pain, perhaps these automatons were more alive than these warriors knew, but there was no point in considering such a thing now.

A scraping limb vertically swiped itself in Misao's direction, and she ducked expertly, only further burying her exquisitely crafted weapon's blade deeper in the beasts hull, tearing it out speedily when the lashing vibrations at her feet proved too much to keep able footing on.

Dropping herself in front of the queen, her heart skipped a beat when the shuttering maw of the beast belched a consuming globe of white fire, which crashed upon her form and send her flying all the way back to her stunned companions, who could only look down with worry at their torched and black guide.

"Ugh…by the goddess, felt like I just had a horse hurled at me." The clobbered girl grumbled as she stood weakly, noticing her companions hadn't even attempted to assist her in standing, or make the slightest remark about her well being.

"You know you deserved that." Kagami carelessly joked with a vicious smirk, finishing her steady climb down to her companions and setting her bedraggled friend upon the ground.

"Onee-Chan! Kona-Chan!" Tsukasa gasped, running to her sister in a storm of childish giggles and crushing her in a loving hug, whilst the mage and archer wordlessly attended to their downed companion.

Noticing their worried faces, Kagami motioned gently that the slumbering girl was injured, but for the time being her life was in no immediate danger, instead focusing her attention towards their cowardly excuse for a guide.

"Yeah, real touching reunion and all, but what about me? I could use some help over here." Misao complained childishly, offering a glare of confusion when her companions only stared upon her with understandable distrust.

"You'll forgive us if we're not incredibly eager to jump to your aid when _your _life is at risk." Kagami callously belittled, practically hearing the rising animosity brewing in the slave's boiling mind.

"What are you nuts? Look, I said I was sorry, okay? S-O-R-R-Y, I apologized, isn't that goddamn good enough?" Misao muttered in disbelief, her eye practically twitching with annoyance at the antagonizing words hurled her way.

"I forgave you, but they didn't." Kagami coolly explained, gesturing towards her friends with a flaunted wrist. "Why don't you make it up to us, as a sort of consolation?" The lilac knight suggested deviously, almost enjoying playing it so calculatingly a little too much for her own good.

"The hell are you driving it?" The drudge wondered shakily, constantly switching her vision flutteringly between her advancing foe and her wary allies.

"You have arachnophobia, right? Which is an unnatural and irrational fear of spiders? Alright, well I have a pretty rational fear of being left to die by a coward like you, and I won't stand for it." Kagami dominatingly affirmed, leaning down and running a hand calmly across the slumbering Konata's flushed cheeks. "Because of you someone I care deeply for is on the cusp of death, and if we don't help her soon she is _going to die_. I don't think sorry cuts it in a situation like this." The tsundere continued, her azure eyes dampening harshly with a wash of tears.

Streaking a hand through her hair collectedly, Misao reaffirmed her aggressive stance once more, sharply heeling her feet into the sticky cobwebs that clung putridly between her toes.

"So here's my proposition to win back your companions shaken' trust, you're going to get over this little fear of being leashed up like a dog, alright? You're going to fight and kill this monster, alone, and if you perish I pray your bones find peace in its belly." Kagami cruelly joked, but behind her stinging words clung a resonance of wisdom, she didn't wish for the poor slave to meet her end, she only wished to see her observe the error of her ways.

Misao knew this in some respects, but couldn't help but wish she had made that a little more clear-cut anyway. Acknowledging the proposal with a faltering nod, the drudge steered herself distressingly in the path of the queen, readying herself for the horrors that awaited her.

The massive arthropod bucked once more, reaffirming itself as the predator and not the prey, but the jittery slave Misao had moved beyond the intimidation tactics, it was time to do battle.

She charged with hardened courage, once again launching herself speedily at the beast, this time horizontally swinging the bladed edge of her spear as she did so, managing to cleanly lob off one of the dangly legs that draped from the creature's back.

The missing limb didn't seem to ail the queen any, and it wasted no time in counterattacking with more lashes from its mighty tendrils, each one pulverizing the ground effortlessly but missing their target with each lightning speed quickstep she could manage.

Miniscule pebbles and bits of web rained all over her form, and she tried her best to ignore the niggling rainstorm but to no avail, the split second of distraction was all the queen needed to horizontally swipe a leg brutishly against her prey, smacking against her frail body harshly and crunching her into a stone wall in a scene of carnage.

She didn't even question it when she felt the snapping twang of her bones breaking one by one within her, she knew what had happened and knew that to any ordinary soul such an assault would be instant death, but she was dealing with somewhat extraordinary circumstances.

Gritting her teeth as the bristling pain shook throughout her body, Misao breathed inward sharply as she felt each piece of her shattered figure click back into place, fill the holes and gaps hastily, and every last piece reconnect.

As the process finished the regenerating girl forcefully pressed backwards against the compressing metal limb, inhumanly jutting it backwards in a herculean show of strength and freeing herself from its stapling embrace.

She wasted no time in thrusting her spear upwards into the leg that still clung to the stone wall, carving the fussing thing from its owner and toppling it to the ground in a heap of cogs and wires.

Another charge of white flame began bellowing from the spider's jaws, which exploded once more in a wrathful expunging force of fire, which managed to strike the dodging servant's flailing arm, which was broiled under the heated pulp of blaze.

Retracting her smoldering arm to her side and stumbling slightly at the domineering pain, Misao steadied herself as she felt the torn muscles and flaked skin begin to repair itself knowingly, forming an arm that looked nothing short of good as new.

The continuous pincer attacks by the restless legs continued just as aggressive as before, and a series of dodges as graceful as ballerina leaps removed the skillful drudge from any immediate danger, and in fact placed her exactly where she needed to be.

It was now that the swarm of infant arachnids waiting patiently around their mother decided to strike, catapulting strings of sticky webs from their maws and latching the adhesive strings all over Misao's body, hundreds of the webs cohering to her flesh and tearing at it barbarously with each tug they gave.

She looked past the pain; she had to, because when it came to a mission the only thing that mattered was her goal. The feeling of accomplishment she felt when she fetched like a good dog, the burnings of lashings she received piteously for her failures.

She was tasked with guarding these souls with every fiber of her being, she would use everything at her disposal to see that these brave warriors accomplish their goal of global salvation; failure was no longer an option regardless of her cowardice or the circumstances.

Bouncing her body with as much pull as she could muster, the slave competently removed herself from the silken bindings wrapped around her arms, allowing herself to wretch her spear upwards with unheard of ability, mightily cracking open the swaying abdomen of the beast and showering herself with the onyx liquid that poured from its belly, nearly dousing her in a waterfall of the pasty liquid before she saw fit to move out from underneath the collapsing monster.

As its inner mechanisms failed one by one, the synthetic arachnid toppled to the ground in a deluge of pain-streaked cries and broken pieces, humming out a few final agonizing toots of rage before shutting down completely.

At the death of their dear mother, the countless children fled skittishly in every foreseeable direction, vanishing behind heavy boulders and inside the shadowy nooks of tunnels made just for such an occasion.

Removing a few clingy strands of web from her person, the heavily panting woman turned to her on-looking allies with an arrogant and well-deserved smirk, signaling the defeat of her powerful foe with a doughty thumbs-up.

"Well, how was that? That a good enough performance to win back your trust? Enough entertainment value?" She wearily asked, continuing to pick away nasty cobwebs from her body as her allies approached her wordlessly.

"Misakichi, that…was…_awesome!_" Patty beamed brightly, hopping up and down excitedly as a spasm of girlish giggles croaked from her throat. "Where did you learn to fight so wickedly like that, and that spinning thing you did with your spear? That was too damn cool! Or, or, or how did you learn to jump so high? I mean, I for sure thought you were dead when he pinned you!" The archer gushed with the inappropriateness of a fan, pouring on a thousand and one questions she didn't really even expect answers to.

"You fought very bravely, and I am honored to place my trust within you once more." Miyuki applauded, bowing her head sternly to the slime-covered girl with a warm smile, Tsukasa nodding in agreement at the thoughtful mage's words.

"Yeah, yeah man, I'm so proud of you Misakichi…I could just kiss you!" Konata bellowed out in a series of toxin-induced slurs, feeling herself drop to the ground from Kagami's arms roughly and without warning.

"Y-Y-You could what? No, you don't what you're saying Konata, keep stupid comments like that to yourself! That poison must be frying your brain…" Kagami abashedly joked, feeling her face heat up to a tender pink at her own words.

"Oh, that's right…sorry Misakichi, no victory smooch! Kagamin gets jealous." The bluenette chuckled as she struggled to keep herself conscious, feeling a rough kick to her stomach at her continuous apparently bad series of comments.

"Like hell I do! I don't care who you kiss, y-you can kiss anyone you want…moron!" Kagami huffed angrily, turning to leave as steam practically fumed from her glowing red face.

Hoisting the sickened girls arm over her shoulder, Misao sighed in relief at her acceptance within the group once more, she certainly couldn't allow a slip up of this magnitude again, she had almost botched the whole mission there, and then these girls lives would've seemed inconsequential to the punishment her master would've laid upon her.

"Well, glad we're all one big happy family again, sincerely, but we should probably keep going." Misao suggested as she turned to leave, feeling the gentle grasp of Tsukasa yank lightly on her collar before she could attempt to do so.

"Wait, aren't you injured? Don't you need to rest?" Tsukasa wondered quite soundly, nobody should've been able to withstand such attacks without a scratch on them, but apparently this strange woman could.

"Nah, I'm a fast healer, don't worry." The burnt out drudge assured, once again turning to continue their journey deeper into the seemingly endless mines.

Her companions bravely followed her walk-weary steps, once again having the upmost confidence in their guide's skills and instructions, knowing she would protect them at all costs.

The troupe found an archaic opening at the opposite end of the queen's nest, yet it wasn't a formation wrought by nature. Following through the passage, the group found themselves below the first step of a mighty stair case.

The Olympian stretch of steps flowed upward to the apex of what appeared to be a colossal stone monument, a divine temple older than time itself, towering pillars carved with clay the size and girth of the mightiest of tree trunks.

Hundreds if not thousands of illuminated torches with blue flame clung to the walls, eerily glossing the room with their azure shadows. In the center of this behemoth-sized shrine stood a door, eroded by the passage of time and steadily broken open, a swaying citrus glow seeping from the features within.

Statues adorned this palace of the ancients, each one more broken and antiquated than the last, rustic in their interpretation, and strikingly haunting in their foul expression, the bust of each was that of the eternal Dragon God, silently watching over its destroyed civilization after millennia of loneliness.

"Wow, that one is big ass building." Misao muttered as a flighty sense of vertigo overtook her, clasping a hand over her eyes as to shield them from the brazen glow of the torches.

"Guys…do you know what this is?" Patty whispered in amazement, the astonished girl's voice nearly cracking with every syllable that escaped her. "This is the temple of the Dragon God! _The Dragon God!_ This is what we came here for; this is what I…this is what I've spent the last six years of my life _looking_ for!" The archer beamed enthusiastically, bubbly skipping to the foot of the long climb with a confident smirk, her eyes glistening with wonder as she lay her gaze upon the incredible structure.

"Six _years_?" Misao groaned in amazement, it seems only someone as relentlessly dense as this amiable markswoman could waste such a monumental circuit of time on a fruitless endeavor.

"You mean this is where that mythical sword you're looking for is hidden?" Tsukasa questioned, wondering why a seemingly useless trinket such as a blade would be safeguarded in such an unreachable location, just what was this weapon?

"That's not all, if what the Monumental says is true…the Dragon God itself is in there, and we need to destroy it." Kagami hummed with displeasure, practically feeling the sense of dread her comment permeated throughout the rest of the group.

"C-Can we do that? Is it even possible to kill a God?" Tsukasa wondered, already beginning to regret agreeing to anything that a talking statue had told her.

"Maybe it's not really a god in the divine sense, but perhaps just a creature these ancient people worshipped as a deity." Miyuki suggested, trying desperately to convince herself that was the cause of the title, were this beast really a god any hope they had of defeating it was surely gone.

"Whatever he is, he's standing in the way of our goal. Lizard breath is goin' down, and so help him if he's a god 'cause I will tear him down from the sky itself!" Konata heroically boasted, removing herself from her tsundere's arms and snapping a ridiculous pose, only to fall post haste as she succumbed to the fizzling pain that spread within her chest.

Dropping to her friend's side, Kagami could only gently smile and lift the foolish girl back into her arms once more, draping the blunette's soft arm affectionately around her neck.

"Hey, no heroics alright? I'll protect you this time." The lilac knight whispered to her ailed friend as she slipped into a steady unconscious state once more, a line of steady drool leaking from her parted lips.

The brave warriors stood at the ready as they surveyed their goal, a mountainous tomb erected to honor a beast of cataclysmic strength, their own power in comparison to the mighty god of dragons was akin to a match a thousand leagues under the sea, but their convictions could not be broken, their courage braced heartily within.

Blurry was her vision as the azure knight Konata was dragged along like a ragdoll, but in the eyes of her friends she could see an unbreakable bond, and a steel tipped clout that would allow them to overcome this unnatural being, one way or the other, the beasts death was assured.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the short chapter, the previous chapter and this one were originally supposed to be one chapter, but I decided to cut it in half because holy hell that would be one monster 14K word chapter, and I figured that would be a bit much for anyone to read. Will definitely crank out the next chapter as quickly as I can, because it's the finale of the whole "Dragon God Arc", and the start of a new adventure! Plus that means I'm all the closer to introducing the rest of the cast, and holy hell am I looking forward to it. To stay any confusion, Konata and Patty's nickname for Misao "Misakichi" is a mocking name Konata bestows upon Misao in the manga, and the town Patty spoke of, Yoshimizu? Named after the creator of Lucky Star, Kogami Yoshimizu.


	15. The Dragon God

**Lucky Souls **

**Author's Prelude: If you can't tell, this first bit is a scene from the future. What's happening in it? Dunno, that's for you to find out.**

* * *

**Chapter 15: The Dragon God **

The abhorrence she felt rattle her bones did nothing to curve her sympathy, in fact the vengeful woman felt nothing but disdain for her own actions, but knew that no amount of seedy conscience could stay her blade now.

She had come too far, she had lost too much, she had sacrificed everything in the pursuit of this single moment, and the white hot fear present in her victim's eyes only whet her appetite for blood more.

She wished for those who had wronged her to feel the pain she felt, for those who destroyed everything she held dear to be destroyed in turn, and she would pass her anguish along to them in spades.

The cries of rage hurled in her direction only pushed her further, deeper into the blackest pit her mind found itself within, there was no turning back.

She lifted her colossal blade, the sword of the Dragon God tightly with her blistered hands, ready to end everything in one fell slash of revenge. Her eyes clenched shut in fear, to take a life willingly in anger was something she herself could not fathom, but it had to be done.

The blade swung hastily, and a sharp wail rung throughout the depraved valley.

"I really wish I had never found that stupid sword."

* * *

"I can't believe I'm actually gonna find it! The sword of the Dragon God, almost within my hands! How big do you think it is? Ooh, ooh, what do you think it looks like? Do you think it can really cleave through stone like they say? Oh that'd be so damn cool!" Patty gushed enthusiastically, her mind ignorant to any danger in the group's immediate future.

The almighty drake seemed almost inconsequential to getting her hands on this weapon, the stone-wrought tool she had feverishly searched nigh half of her life in pursuit of. Would it really be as they say? Would she achieve fame and fortune on an incalculable scale? Her mind was aflutter with such thoughts, beaming back and forth to herself with giggles and snickers, the rest of the group could do nothing but allow her a moment to settle.

"How old is she again?" Misao whispered in disbelief, earning a light chuckle from Tsukasa who could only admire her eccentric companion with a gentle sigh.

Konata certainly had her own air of aberrant behavior, but Patty just seemed so much chirpier, more excitable by even the most inappreciable of things, the two were alike in this way it seemed.

"Patty, I don't mean to sound rude, but you're not gonna act like this when we actually find this monster, are you?" Kagami cautiously asked, praying to the divines the barmy woman wouldn't be their undoing with her antics.

"Hey now, hey now! I know when to be serious, and I promise I will be when we're trading blows with this sucker, but until then…Dragon Sword! Dragon Sword! Dragon Sword!" The archer bursted out in a storm of absent-minded giggles, springing herself literally around the room with joy as she seized the moment in every way she could fathom.

She wanted to remember how the brimstone lathered air filled her nostrils with displeasure, how the smoky environment stung upon her eyes, she wanted to recall every drop of sweat, blood and tears she had ever expunged up until this moment.

"Dragon Sword!" Konata mumbled incoherently, only adding to the flame of battiness in her delirium.

"Not you too…" Kagami moaned in displeasure, just in time for an earth-shattering roar to tear down the beguiling atmosphere and stop the timid adventurer's hearts on queue.

"Looks like tiny already knows we're here, figures." The drudge complained wearily, she grew tired of constantly being on the losing side in these situations, just once it would be a nice change of pace if they had some sort of advantage.

"Everyone, I don't mean to sound despondent, but this will truly be a creature the likes of which we've never seen, we must be at our best." Miyuki cautioned to her allies, but annealing themselves before such an insurmountable threat was distressing to say the least. While their hearts were stoned with bravery, this did nothing to shy the sweat from their faces, or the gentle chatter of their feet, most of them weren't warriors, the art of battle was as alien to them as Boletaria itself.

"What're we gonna do about sunshine, here? I'd rather she not be slurring abuse my way in the heat of battle, if I got killed because of her I don't think my soul would ever be able to find peace." Misao dejectedly enquired, noticing the wrinkle that furrowed the bluenette's carrier, as much as she detested the way the drudge treated her friend, she was right.

"Point taken at any rate, I can't very well carry her when the fighting starts." Kagami muttered, eyeing a nearby series of patterned vases aligned in an almost ceremonial fashion. It wasn't a perfect hiding spot, but it would have to do, and heaving her friend skyward, the lilac knight carefully set her within the immense jar, delicately wrapping the girl within her tattered waist cloth gingerly, she couldn't help but notice Konata's skin was crisp and pasty, time was definitely of the essence.

"Will Kona-Chan be alright?" Tsukasa hoped, what if some wandering beast found their slumbering companion? They couldn't very well rush to her aide when they had their own campaign to finish.

"She should be, I don't think even the most wicked things lurk way down here." Misao noted at their surroundings, decrepit and lonely, this place was primeval in a way beyond life itself. Insects didn't skitter feverishly upon the ground, the very dust within the air seemed to cling to nothing, and of course the ever present colorless fog loomed stilly all around, a constant reminder of the otherworldly place they found themselves in.

"Come on, she's fine! Let's just do this thing already, the longer we drag it out the more nervous we'll be! Best to raise your fists when the adrenaline is good and pumpin'!" Patty suggested with an odd urgency in her tone, yet it was entirely understandable to her companions, how long had she sought this weapon?

Misao turned to her in a huff of arrogance at the comment plainly. "You're entirely too eager to die. Mark my words that gusto will get you killed someday, tone it down." Misao apathetically muttered, why did it seem she of all people was the voice of reason among the group?

The house of the dragon god chattered beneath their feet yet again at the call of the creatures booming roar, it grew impatient it seemed, how long had it been since the drake had faced a worthy opponent in combat? Here it lay in the deepest trenches of the world, sealed away from all who could abuse its power, just waiting for the opportunity to be released.

Thanks to the bumbling archer Patricia though, the demon had just the opportunity it had waited everlasting centuries for. With the Old One consuming the world within the fog, perhaps it could take the time to enjoy its newfound freedom, barring all masters and goals of its superiors.

The clinching halls around them seemed to grow more compact the further they ventured into the wyvern's temple, the walls were wrought of marble and nigh featureless, this seemed less of an homage to a god and more like a prison.

A magnificent archway assailed their vision, crafted from a dull and rusted iron tinged the color of blood, the feeble cage surely wasn't the cause of the imprisonment, there had to be more. The group's humble mage carefully assessed the situation before them.

"Markings on the bars, they don't appear to be any manner of scripture though…it seems to be an incantation." Miyuki pointed out, feeling a humming radiance flutter within her palm as she knowingly glossed the door with her hand.

"A spell? For what, to keep the Dragon God in? Or to keep people out?" Kagami questioned to the thinking mage, who could only shake her head at the inquiry, whatever the purpose of the gate those who created it willed a single purpose upon it, isolation.

"Can you remove the seal?" Misao wondered hopefully, knowing it would be a real shame if they had come all this way just to be halted in their journey by a door.

Placid were the tremors which rumbled from the doorway, an otherworldly fixation of magic placed upon its bars, but nothing too difficult for their expert mage to handle. A flick of her wrist was all it took, and with her gesture the bars blushed a bright orange before melting into a goopy puddle.

The workings of her companions arts set Patty only slightly on edge, but she couldn't be deterred now, not when the sword was nigh in her grasp, the second that blade was in her hands her life would change for the better, this she knew.

"Come everyone, it's time I had a little date with destiny." Patty snickered with the sunniest of grins, she wouldn't allow the fear of this beasts might to vex her, she could only match its raw strength with her own brave disposition, Misao was right, the time for fooling around was surely over.

Proceeding with caution was cardinal against this foe, their minds would have to be clear, their bodies agile and alert, a blade in the hand and a foot in the grave, as always.

The audacious adventurer's advanced into the candidly enormous chamber, a goliath cave carved throughout the very earth itself in a circular fashion. The ceiling was laden with stalagmites frozen to amber states, glowing a dull red in the reflection of the endless lake of lava beneath them.

Here it was that the inner sanctum of the temple stood, abandoned and anile, withered away by age to the point where the stone walls themselves seemed to melt away, the expertly crafted pillars and altars crushed to dust in heaps of ruin, and yet there were no signs of battle, or that life had ever even existed here.

Mighty siege machines seemed to defend the area from seemingly nothing at all, the beast the group had come for was nowhere in sight, the area was completely devoid of life.

"So, where the hell is he?" Misao muttered in disbelief, running to a crumbling balcony to ascertain a better view of the situation that presented itself, and yet all she could see were the destroyed ruins of the temple, and the sea of magma that reached ever onward.

"More importantly where is the sword?" Patty moaned in despair, erratically fidgeting in a nervous stance as she scanned for anything with even a semblance of a blade.

"Do you think maybe the Monumental was wrong…?" Tsukasa wondered to herself more than anyone, but knew such a thing was likely not possible, for a being that witnessed all things, not to mention the power of foresight, it would be odd if it had managed to steer them in the wrong direction.

A fierce boom was her answer, followed by a deathly violent earthquake that toppled the very structures over their heads. They wasted no time in skittishly removing themselves from the immediate area, clumsily dodging tiny rubble that fell all around them like a hailstorm, until they were awarded a fresh view of their situation as they exited the altar.

A calamitous whirlpool beset upon the cistern of lava instantly, thrashing destructively against the cavern walls and dissolving the temple around the lake into a crimson pulp. Downward the magma sunk in a spiral, collapsing inward to form an almost crevice within the very residue itself, as if heralding a great tremor far below.

This couldn't be closer to the truth the girls noticed, as a stone-like horn suddenly crushed outward powerfully from the surface of the lava, callously disregarding the inhumanly intense heat which clung to its form.

The massive horn was paired with another equal in size, at least a kilometer in length, protruding menacingly from a caved in and scaly head, a sharp disc wrapping itself around the base of the appearing creatures skull.

Its head was lizard-like in appearance, long and muzzled, scaly and offering a delicate sheen to the texture. The monsters face beheld many eyes, literally hundreds, ruby red and glowing which encompassed the upper half of the beasts face. The quaking jaw of the demon gently twitched, opening slightly to reveal a set of jagged and rotten teeth, each at least the size of a diminutive tree. Within the maw lay another, and another, seemingly dozens of mouths imprinted within one another in one gullet, each baring their own set of gangly teeth.

The very scales that covered its body were glistening with precious jewels, crested blades buried deeply in its flesh, and a plethora of coins and all manner of treasures, the beast glistened under the glow of the magma, a domineering blast of light akin to the sun itself.

The neck of the hydra pressed its body up further, raising the mighty beast hundreds of feet upwards, the broiling lava that caked its flesh slipping like beads of sweat off of the hide. The beast's body was hidden beneath the lake of lava, but if its head was nearly the size of a humble castle, how enormous could its entire form possibly be?

The daunting demon gave the group no time to admire the ghoulishly beautiful scene before them, the rise of a god, instead deciding to buck backwards and explode fiercely with a blustering roar, which permeated a gust of wind so intense it riddled the entire area with destruction, toppling adroitly crafted buildings and splitting crags within the earth.

"Holy shit, move!" Misao screeched commandingly, shepherding her flock of adventurer's away from the affected area of the gale blast just in time, feeling the crunch of stone slapping against stone all around her as the temple was riddled with holes.

The weary ground at their feet gave way, tumbling inwards down a vertical incline and sending the bumbling girls falling downward roughly, clacking against the level below them painfully in a heap of groans and stone-make rubble.

"Oh my god, you gotta be kiddin' me…" The drudge grumbled once more, pressing herself upwards in a flash and assisting her collapsed companions in standing before the drake had the bright idea of attempting a second assault.

"The Dragon God!" Patty peeped out a little too excitedly for anyone's tastes, to which Misao could only jab her harshly in the shoulder.

"Ya think? Come on, move it!" The servant ordered to her companions, she couldn't fail again; she had to do everything in her power to make sure these foolish women survived, and every trick at her disposal to make sure the colossus fell.

The group huddled themselves in a nearby caved in structure, watching horrifyingly as the Dragon God aimlessly breathed outward hellishly upon another expanse, disintegrating solid stone to dust akin to blowing out the flickering flame of a candle.

Kagami couldn't help but shake her head in sheer hopelessness. "There is no damn way, what're we supposed to do? He's a thousand feet tall!" Kagami hopelessly breathed out, her flighty twin collapsed in fear within her amiable hold.

"I admit I certainly didn't expect this, but everything has a weakness, isn't that what they always say? They managed to seal this monstrosity away, which means they must've…well, they had the bigger teeth in that situation." Misao explained knowingly, peeking her head delicately from the rubble to assess the demon, which was still busy mindlessly destroying anything it saw fit.

Glancing upwards to the high-tech siege machines above, the slave hatched an idea, she used the motto of using a rock to crush another, and for such a case in which you find the rock is impervious to your efforts, seek a larger rock.

"The war machines, I'm sure they're not there for show. We need to reach them any way we can. Takara-San, do you think you'd be able to give 'em a little kick start?" The calculating drudge questioned, knowing full well the group's powerful mage wouldn't let them down. "Alright, then all we need is a little distraction…" At her ramblings, Misao couldn't help but hear the faint tickle of an all too familiar voice fluttering in her ear, but that simply wasn't possible, such a voice would mean damnation to the entire plan.

Gritting her teeth achingly, she cautiously prepared herself for what she was about to see as she leaned over the annihilated balcony, she almost vomited at the sight.

There she was, that little blue-haired menace, cranky and awake like a toddler from her nap, flailing her arms mindlessly and hooting with the unrefined grace of an owl. The Dragon God couldn't help but overhear the impetuous challenge, and with an almost prideful stance of its own, turned its attention toward the insulting little worm who dared to confront its might.

"Hey! Yeah you, ugly! Aren't you that dragon guy? I've been lookin' for you…" Boisterous as ever was the azure knight's call, slurred and sloppy and riddled with fatigue from the deadly toxin that ran its course within her.

"No, no, no. I'm not seeing this, I'm hallucinating surely, please god somebody tell me that they don't see that little moron down there…" Misao muttered in complete disbelief, clenching her frigid body even harder when frightened gasps escaped her companions.

"Konata!" Kagami screeched in horror, not even having the time to stand up before she was brutally yanked downwards once more.

"Don't be an idiot!" Her guide barked at her, which did nothing to stay the pained thrashing the woman trapped in her arms brought about.

"I'm not just gonna let that thing kill her!" Kagami hollered back at her captor, feeling a steady release on her form at her protests.

"I said don't be an idiot! Did you forget why I'm here? Hotcakes down there isn't going to die, not on my watch." Misao adjured confidently, unclasping her spear and directing it in the direction of the siege machines. "Takara-San, take little Hiiragi and Patty with you, you'll no doubt their help. Do anything you can to get those things running, alright?" The guide issued to her underlings, facing the older Hiiragi twin with a courageous air about her, knowing she wouldn't allow herself to go anywhere but to the flying aid of the bluenette.

"Thank you." Kagami muttered shamefully, tearing her blade from its scabbard and readying herself in any way she could. "Good luck you guys, keep them safe Miyuki." The request was bothersome, but she knew if anybody could keep the two in check it'd be the demure sorceress.

Giving her companions a stalwart farewell nod, Kagami directed her attention on the bumbling fool she regrettably called a friend far below her, cackling frenziedly at a creature who saw fit to claim godhood. The beast huffed a putrid bellow of fume from its many maws, thrashing the bluenette backwards violently without warning into a nearby wall, it almost seemed as if it was playing with its food.

"No time, that thing might actually kill her, hop on." Misao motioned to her sweat-caked back, bending down slightly to allow the older Hiiragi to climb upon her.

"What?" Kagami breathed bunglingly, losing her footing sloppily when the slave bucked her shamelessly onto her surprisingly strong shoulders, meeting her rider's gaze with an awkward curl of the lip.

"Hold on tight." Misao cautioned, snickering at the girlish peep her traveler coughed out as she steadily gripped her exposed thigh's for leverage.

Without hesitation the twosome were suddenly rocketed into the air, hurling themselves dozens of feet skyward at inhuman speeds, Kagami couldn't help but squeak out a banshee yelp, readying herself for the death that would no doubt take her when they splattered across the temple on impact.

Yet no such fate came to them, with the fluttering grace of a roosting eagle, Misao delicately and nigh motionlessly landed upon a crusty platform below with an agile plop, so soft the ground itself didn't even seem to notice her ghostly tread.

"A-A-And you c-called me inhuman, j-just what the hell are you a-anyway?" Kagami shakily asked her somewhat otherworldly companion as she released herself from the firm hold upon her oily back.

"That's…well, story for another time I guess, your blushing damsel is in distress and she comes first." Misao warned, pronging her spear and staring down the gargantuan lizard at her front, the thought of how such an otherworldly beast even came into being flashed through her thoughts, just how ancient was it? Had it perpetually existed since the dawn of time without explanation like the Old One? Was it perhaps a spawn created from the Old One's power? Was it evolution that made it this way? Here it lurked in the deepest trenches of the world, alone and forever sealed away, the last or only of its kind, the fiend seemed almost pitiable in this way.

"You're kinda tough, but I've fought a dragon before y'know, and he was way more badass than you." Konata bubbled out confidently, wearily crawling to her feet as a pasty glob of blood trickled down her field of vision. Within her obscured sight she suddenly beheld her tsundere, battle ready and sword drawn defending her, it almost seemed like a fantasy.

"What did I tell you about _me _protecting _you_ this time, idiot! You always do this…I…I'm not defenseless you know!" Kagami roared at her beaten friend, steeling her blade at the looming Dragon God without fear as she heard the azure knight giggle exasperatingly.

"That's how it works though Kagamin…the beautiful princess never saves the daring knight…what kinda messed up fairy tales you readin'?" Konata steadily spoke into a declining whisper, the poison was affecting her system far more than she knew, each word was more strenuous than the last, it exhausted her just to speak.

When the bluenette fell unconscious once more, Kagami couldn't help but thank fate for that save, she'd never heard her friend speak in such a way before, when Konata had spoken of her in such ways, like calling her beautiful, she couldn't help but nod it off to perverted childish banter, and to the wily little woman it probably was, but to her it did nothing but stick a needle in her heart every time.

"Watch over her, I'll distract it until Miyuki can get those machines running." Kagami brazenly ordered, tightening her grip upon her sword's handle until her skin blistered at the touch.

"Are you stupid?" The slave laughed out, nonetheless heaving the unconscious poisoned woman onto her shoulders and preparing to run off, she couldn't help but have the slightest tinge of confidence in Kagami at that moment, the air of courage about her was nearly intoxicating.

"Incredibly, but love breeds stupidity." Her voice was hardened with courage, and yet it meekly quivered with fear like a child, her friend Konata was always foolishly risking her life for the sake of others, she would give up everything if it meant protecting somebody she didn't even know.

Could Kagami claim the same bravery and selflessness? Probably not now that she thought about it, she wasn't a coward, but she wasn't heroic either. She wasn't selfish, but she didn't go out of her way to assist those she knew nothing about, or held no debt to. Konata was bright and kind, exuberant and fun, she couldn't claim to be any of these things, at least not as much as she.

Konata wasn't just her friend; she wasn't just some girlish crush either, despite what she showed outwardly to the woman, she held the upmost respect for her in every way. She was almost an idol to the lilac knight; the purest representation of what a human being could be, never letting the woes of life crush her into despair, never allowing anyone around her to be anything but smiling.

"I said go god damn it! I don't plan on dying, not now…not until…just go alright!" Kagami hollered once more, practically feeling the stress of the sigh the slave huffed out in response.

"Please make good on that, if you die I'm out of a job." With those final words, Misao suddenly vanished with the aid of a powerful leap, rocketing herself and the slumbering Konata upwards into the hovering temple.

Almost mockingly the Dragon God loomed before her, sensing the aura of challenge radiating from its tiny opponent, it almost seemed as if it wished for her to make the first move, knowing victory for the warrior was impossible at any rate.

"You're a real bastard…you knew I was dead the second I turned my blade upon you, didn't you? Well, at least you had the courtesy to spare Konata. So come on, let's just finish this already!" Kagami thundered courageously, a hot line of tears suddenly jetting from her dampened gaze, she couldn't help it, she just didn't welcome death as warmly as her dear friend.

Her rush at the monster was sloppy, and yet experienced, it breathed a fiery plume her way which she expertly dodged, collapsing her sword in between the scaly hide of the beast's humongous chin and stretching the bloody flesh violently.

The Dragon God bucked upwards, pulling Kagami still hanging helplessly to her sword with it, swooshing her to and fro as she desperately attempted to hold on to the beast to no avail.

A jolting roar as fierce as could be exploded from the gullet of the fiend, sending cycling shockwaves in every direction and destroying literally everything in sight, toppling buildings as if they were nothing.

The blast yanked Kagami from her painful hold, sending her on a curving aimless path into a solid stone wall forcefully and painfully. An atrocious pain suddenly riddled her burning back as she woozily stood once more, she couldn't help but wonder why it hadn't killed her outright, she really wasn't human anymore it seemed.

That probably didn't discount her from the clutch of death however; she likely just had more normal breathing room than average person, which was all she needed to be a successful scarecrow. A cause of disorder was rightly needed too; the towering reptile had already begun to attract its attention towards her companions on high. To distract however, one had to be something enticing, something worth disregarding everything to engage pursuit towards, and if there was one thing she ever learned from Konata, it was how to get someone's attention.

"H-Hey…uh, hey ugly!" Kagami barked at her colossal foe, a shaky boast begetting an even more faltering cackle of pride. "Yeah you! I uh…damn it what does she always say? Oh forget it." She muddled confusedly, clasping a jagged rock in her palm and hurling it brashly at the demon's face, amazingly, it lodged itself on target into one if it's many eyes, practically popping it like a balloon into a bloody mess across the beast's face.

A disgruntled roar of minor annoyance was all that bellowed from the demon, but Kagami had its attention. What an insult it must have been to the Dragon God she brooded, of all the ways warriors across the ages had tried to end the beast, never once had one probably thought to chuck a rock at its copious field of eyes.

The drake thrashed upwards violently, bursting with rage as it crushed its stone-crested skull across the forgotten temple, trampling it into dust and hoping to take the inciter along with it.

The lilac knight expelled herself from the heat of the destruction, but her pursuer wasted no time in halting the carnage to assault its miniscule foe. A crushing blast of whipping air suddenly exploded the staircase Kagami had attempted to climb into fulminations of grimy dust, followed by the archway she had turned to in hopes of escape, the demon was surely toying with her.

She turned to face it, deciding a full on charge to fake out the monster, but it learned her patterns just as she learned it's. The beast fell suddenly, collapsing itself upon the ground mere inches in front of the agile warrior, composing shockwaves of cutting air which would have lifted her clean off her feet once more if not for a protruding rock being her savior.

Gravely she held onto the stone, blankly staring into the expansive maw of many mouths swirling into a vortex of teeth at her front, pasty mucus globs sloshing in between the sets of teeth at the tumultuous roar, this human was indeed different from the others it seemed, the Dragon God's old tactics wouldn't work on this new age warrior.

The gusting roar halted, and almost immediately Kagami released the boulder she had been clasped upon and rushed herself hurriedly under the chin of the mighty dragon, gulping only slightly when she noticed the entire underbelly of the head was laden with blood-tipped pointy little protrusions, quite the deadly defense.

She was quick, but the beast covered far more ground, it collapsed once more, attempting to crush the puny morsel beneath its scaly blubber. Kagami saw this, and immediately took cover within a crumbling crevice the dust below her had so thankfully provided, screaming shamelessly when the God crushed itself directly over her hiding hole.

* * *

"Please tell me you have some fraction of a fraction of an idea of what you're doing." Patty moaned hopelessly, eyeing the nervous little mage as she worked tirelessly to revive the dead machine.

"I wish I could say I did, but this technology is so unique. We have siege machines where we come from as well but they're not nearly this advanced. Ours are comprised of simple tug and spring mechanisms, these are more…magical in nature." The mage explained hopelessly, again attempting to charge the slumbering machine with a heavy blast of electricity, but it remained dormant.

"Yuki-Chan, can't we do anything? The others are…" Tsukasa couldn't help but grieve helplessly, gazing out at the rampaging monster of a dragon below, eliminating everything in sight, she couldn't help but worry that it had already disposed of her dear friends, yet how the beast still raged tirelessly set her mind somewhat at ease.

"I know it's just…these machines seem to have been made specifically for somebody, likely the ancient race within the mines. They're locked so they can only be activated by one of them, but..." Miyuki sighed delicately, musing that even with her expansive knowledge of the magical arts she could do nothing to work this seemingly very simple machine.

"I pray these things are working, Hiiragi isn't going to last long down there." A voice suddenly chimed in, the bearer of which was a very grimy looking Misao, a bundle of blue-haired mess draped over her shoulder effortlessly.

"Onee-Chan is down there alone!" Tsukasa nearly screeched in fright, thoughtlessly attempting to fly to her aid before she felt a rigid grip take hold of her tearing collar.

"Hey now, your sister is tough, you go down there and play hero and you'll only get in her way." Misao warned wisely, clutching an arm affectionately around the downtrodden Tsukasa at her blunt comment. "Come on now, Miyuki needs your help up here, alright?" The slave smiled tenderly, brushing past afflicted woman and setting the ill Konata upon the ground with a childish grunt of despair. "So that's a no go on these weapons, eh?" Misao asked as she surveyed the tightly crafted machines, they resembled something akin to a massive crossbow, yet they were steeled with heavy iron shells and missing the bow string, instead the end pronged into three trident-like protrusions, each one having a hole carved into the end.

"I'm afraid so, they were designed to be used only by the ancient races of Boletaria, and since there are none that live, it will not function." Miyuki explained downwardly, pressing her glasses firmly into the bridge of her nose in a vain effort to spike some improvised plan.

"You don't say." The drudge mumbled, setting herself behind the robust machine and coolly running a hand across its glossy marbled surface, she couldn't help but glint when a shuddering vibration fizzled throughout her arm in reaction to her touch.

The spark gave way to life, and the machine suddenly began to shake gently as the ancient symbols carved upon its shell gave off a dull glow. Misao cocked her head with a knowing smile before she turned her gaze to the astonished faces before her.

"How did you…what was…huh?" Miyuki stumbled out plainly, trying to grasp any measure of sense within the situation she could.

"Story for another time, Hiiragi needs our help." Misao ordered as she motioned for the stunned markswoman Patty to fetch one of the magical bolts which adorned a pile of supplies next to the cannon.

* * *

Ducking behind the nearest collapsed pile of smoldering rubble she could find, Kagami breathlessly hardened her resolve, the beast would likely never tire and she didn't count on such a miracle happening, but on that end she wished at least something would, procuring any scrap of luck would be enough to save her hide at this moment.

The broken down house around her suddenly gave way, and almost too dramatically she catapulted herself from the wreckage in a tumbling roll, glancing upwards at the towering monstrosity that wished so desperately to destroy her.

"I thought you were tough! The so called God of the Dragons, right? Then how come all I see before me is a big, noisy gecko!" Kagami lashed out with all her muster, shivering with fright at the sheer animosity that seeped from her tormentor, it was hard to believe a mindless soul-devouring demon could have its feelings hurt, but this seemed to be the case.

Kagami stood valiantly once more, all too ready to make another break for it, when she noticed a feverish niggling feeling sparking throughout her lower body. It felt complacent with its existence, growing and surging throughout her muddied veins, she knew all too late what was overcoming her.

A bolt of pain suddenly exploded throughout her leg, and the shrill shriek of pain that exploded from deep within her echoed hauntingly throughout the dead city. She collapsed in a shaking heap upon the ground, grasping knowingly at her pulsating limb.

Was she out of time already? There was absolutely no way such misfortune could greet her now, she had done so well to fight against this plague, and yet it seemed it had finally overpowered her.

Her quaking gaze fell upon her afflicted leg, which was now mysteriously glowing a hot gold, radiating an almost foggy ash like substance which seemed to consume her slowly but surely.

Better she meet her death than join the legions of the skulking husks though, and so she prayed that the Dragon God swiftly end her.

A howling shudder rang throughout the area, yet it did not stem from the god of dragons. A whistling arrow as thick around as a great tree suddenly pierced deeply into the face of the colossus, nearly knocking it over onto its side in the process.

Like air escaping a deflating balloon, a legion of glimmering white auras suddenly erupted from the torn hide of the scaly dragon, in her deafened and nigh blind state due to the sheer pain, Kagami noticed that in appearance they were vaguely akin to souls.

Another arrow of equal mass suddenly flew into her vision from the city above, splitting through the already present one completely and crushing the two pronged bolts in even deeper, collapsing the area of skin around the god's jaw-line and nearly severing it, sending globs of torn flesh and darkened maroon blood splattering in every aimless direction.

The Dragon God jerked intensely, shaking off the pain and ignoring its combatant in favor of a more potent threat. It expunged a blast of whirling fire in the direction of the aggressors, but found that its fiery attack was futile when it collided with a strange magical barrier around the area.

* * *

"I won't be able to hold this for very long…" Miyuki muttered out painfully, shuttering in disgust when she found the quaky tears that leaked from her eyes were blood, such a spell was taking an alarming toll upon her body it seemed.

"Yuki-Chan!" Tsukasa hopelessly bellowed, holding onto her pained friend with vigor as she searched her busy brain for anything she could do to assist her.

"Wait, I just remembered…Tsukasa, there's an herb in my lower pocket, it was given to me by a friend, fish it out." Miyuki shuddered out in between several hard breaths, peeping lightly when she felt her friends cold hand graze within the tender area for the aforementioned herbs, and upon finding them, she took them thankfully. "Thank you Tsukasa…and thank you, Shiraishi-San." Miyuki whispered, ingesting the reinvigorating plants and feeling the strength of twenty suddenly invade her body, they really were potent.

Firing off another sharp arrow into the dragon's body, Misao grumbled wordlessly to herself, turning to the others with a dim yet mocking expression.

"I don't mean to kill the mood but this isn't working, it'll only be a matter of time until he either gets bored chewing on Hiiragi's more than likely dead body or he blows us to smithereens, we need an idea fast." The drudge ordered to her troupe, squeezing on the makeshift trigger of the machine harshly and holding herself upon it as it bucked from the powerful shot.

Standing idly by up until this moment, Patty admired the haunting scene below of the vengeful god, she didn't come this far just to get killed, that sword had eluded her for too long, and she knew just what to do.

"Have you heard the jolly tale, of knights with swords, hardened in mail, who searched high and low and near and far, for their very own lucky star. Some found riches, some found fame, some found love and others vain. But what they sought most still eluded, it riddled their minds, made them secluded. A sword of wishes, wrought in stone, a lucky star of their very own." Patty recited emotionlessly, her gently shut eyes ignorant to the chaos around her in that moment.

"What the_ hell_ are you talking about!" Misao nigh yelled in confusion, trying her best to drown out the archer's random poetic instance and concentrate on the Dragon God who so aggressively sought to end them.

"Deep within the crusted Earth, lay an ancient city since the planet's birth. Here he loomed, the God of drakes, his sinned existence mankind's mistake. Sealed away from the earth above, the wishful sword granted god's love. Gone forever in a flash of awe, the sword was hidden in the dragon's maw." Patty finished knowingly, brushing past the busy slave and climbing herself nimbly upon the top of the vibrating machine as it slung an arrow once more.

"What are you doing?" Misao breathed out brokenly, unclenching the grasp as to not accidentally kill the foolish little girl who apparently had considered it to be playtime.

"The sword is in its mouth! I need you to fire me at the Dragon God with this thing, alright?" The excited archer asked as she explained her devious plan, Misao couldn't even manage to entertain a laugh at the proposal, it was just too stupid to fathom.

"I'm not even going to address you; in fact I'm going to just pretend you didn't ask me to do something incredibly stupid. Why don't you go play somewhere else and let the adults get_ killed by this stupid dragon!_" Misao roared in a mocking rage, but Patty wouldn't be deterred, in fact she had already begun to climb inside the collapsed hole within the cannon.

"I wasn't really asking! But come on, trust me! I've done plenty stuff stupider than this. Well, maybe not _this_ stupid, but I've been around the block." Patty reminisced bubbly, ignoring all protests from her fiery little companion and readying herself for what would likely be the most exhilarating instance in her entire life.

"I'm not going to shoot you at the colossal demon, Patricia. I can't even believe I'm arguing about this…get out before you hurt yourself!" The slave barked the order once more, but it fell on deaf ears and was met only with a wily giggle of anticipation.

"Oh, that's alright, I actually squeezed the trigger before I even hopped in here. Sayonara!" Patty fearlessly parted to her companions, wrapping her nubile body around the shaft of the giant arrow within the machine and clenching harshly, this was surely going to be one wild ride.

The arrow suddenly rocketed from the ticking machine with a thud, and the markswoman's blurred vision was clouded with teary residue as she flew at inhuman speeds through the air, an abstract painting of burnt oranges and dull browns muddily swirling themselves throughout her line of vision as the arrow twirled like a top.

She belched harshly, and with it came a pasty green substance that seemed to litter itself everywhere as she spun mercilessly, and unfortunately all over her person as the vomit defied gravity.

"Oh come on!" She cried hopelessly at her misfortune, clenching her eyes as the arrow she grasped to so tightly crunched cleanly through the Dragon God's quaking jaw and directly into its ocean of maws.

Slobbering pink flesh everywhere coated in sticky saliva was all that assaulted her vision, that and rows upon rows of teeth, a forest of them surrounding the jaw of each mouth that collapsed into the next.

There it lay as the stories told directly in the eye of the swirling vortex of gullets, the sword of the dragon god. It was at least the size of a grown man, the handle was crafted carefully with crusty yellow dragon bones and bloody scales; the blade itself was completely made of stone, cracked and slathered in entrails from its millennia of use.

"Ma? Pa? I found it." Patty whispered solemnly to herself, crawling through the vibrating and wavy gums inside the gullet of the massive drake.

* * *

"Everyone, I'm sorry but…I've done all I can." Miyuki slithered out in between gasps, hacking up a dangerous amount of thick blood before falling belly down to the dust.

"Yuki-Chan!" Tsukasa cried out in agony, lifting her friends head steadily into her lap and rubbing her face for any semblance the girl might be alright.

"Oh no, move! Move! Move!" Misao screeched as she looked upward towards the glistening magical barrier around them, which slowly but surely evaporated into a fume of steam which clouded the area.

The drudge turned tail, curling the unconscious Konata within her hold and yanking on Tsukasa's collar to make with the escaping. Tsukasa herself dragged Miyuki callously on the ground, perpetually apologizing for each grazing rock that jutted against the slumbering sorceress' sleeping form.

The explosion of fire behind them erupted into a tornado of heavy winds, lifting the entire group into the air like dainty feathers and sending them flying downward into the canyon that was the city.

"Oh screw you, play fair why don'tcha!" Misao hollered at their aggressor in mid-air, hurling her spear sideways in the direction of her falling compatriots and nailing her target directly, literally. Her floating spear punctured the hem of Tsukasa's baggy shirt expertly, sending her flying helplessly into a wall and sticking her there safely, Misao couldn't help but smirk lightly at the scene even during such a hectic instance.

With her now free hands she clasped the arms of the two sleeping souls below her, gingerly hoisting the women upon her back and sticking the grossly impossible landing without fault.

The rush of adrenaline however, nearly made her collapse over in exhaustion, dropping the dead weight of her sleeping troupe with a heaving sigh.

"Man, you guys really are gonna be the death of me…" Misao started as she looked back at her companions, only to be struck with horror when one Konata Izumi seemed to be missing from the heap of colorful hair spread across the mud. "No way." She breathed out, glancing in every direction the eye could perceive until she dawned upon the escaping woman, sluggishly working her way towards the approaching drake.

"Sorry, sorry! Needed a little refresher…but now that I'm wide awake and charged to the bone with energy, you're going down!" Konata hooted and hollered in an almost intoxicated tone, alerting the Dragon God post haste as she haughtily clanked her sword upon the ground in an issue of rematch.

"God damn it, Izumi!" Misao screamed in terror, leaping upwards from her collapsed state and charging with fervor towards the fool of a girl who dared to challenge a god.

She was too late to stop it; the Dragon God belched a colossal glowing orb of fire, one last effort to rid the world of the warriors who tread upon sinned lands.

A twirling jab of inhuman might suddenly crushed itself into Konata's back in the form if Misao's gangly leg, sending the bluenette flying clear out of the danger zone and crashing through some aimless collection of trash.

"The things I do for you, Mephistopheles." Misao muttered, her body littered with fear as she was consumed wholly by the crackling essence of fire all around her.

Her body melted under its intense touch, she wearily glanced upon her singing flesh as it was dissolved down the bone, and she clenched her eyes silently shut with knowing fear, how many times had she experienced this out of body phenomenon? Just how many times was she expected to die before she was allowed to rest?

Misao's body was literally torn to pieces, bones and flesh and hair riddling the immediate area in a pancake of sopping mess, entrails and shards of nameless things decorating the battlefield in a crimson streak.

Still hanging helplessly on the wall nearby, the horrified scream that exploded from Tsukasa's gullet could've deafened the entire world, a monsoon of salty tears leaked from her eyes at the disgusting sight.

In the aftermath of the blazing eruption of power, the battlefield was completely silent apart from the hollow sobs of the younger Hiiragi twin, and the smoldering snap of flame begetting black smoke.

Konata lay wordlessly upon the musty ground within the wreckage, her ears affright with the hollers of a sniveling Tsukasa, her body aflame with rupturing pain perforating her insides, and a silent despair crusting her heart at the thought of being so helpless. Her body was fractured, and her mind was completely shut off to the world, whatever danger her friends were in she could do nothing now but wait it out.

"Misao! Misao! Misao! No, oh my god…Misao!" Tsukasa screeched in agony, blubbering with tears and dampening sweat as she hung like a trophy upon a wall, practically seeing the essence of victory sparking within the god's thousand eyes, it knew it had won, it knew it would win from the very beginning and yet decided to give these warriors some chance at a victory, how smug she mused.

In her abysmal despair, the weeping Tsukasa couldn't help but notice a most peculiar sight. The cracked bones, the torn flesh, the bloated and exploded organs that once claimed to be some semblance of a human being suddenly began to twitch violently.

The very pools of blood upon the ground seemed to dance to some unknown melody, wrapping themselves in a velveteen casing around the littered muscle and sinew, filling deflating organs that barred blood, slipping between severed bones and connecting them together like pieces to a puzzle.

At first she thought sheer grief and shock had drove her temporarily insane, but she knew this was no fantasy, the messy puddle that was Misao seemed to be reforming itself, recreating something.

All the bones of the skeleton snapped and clicked together until the hellish frame stood on its own feet as if alive, embracing the floating bits of skin and muscle which sought to sew themselves into its shattered form.

A fleshy blanket twirled around the skeleton, sacs of organs and blood within, clinging themselves desperately to their owner as they molded the body into perfection.

The body before her was as naked as the day it was born, soft, petite and female and caked in a light sweat, the gaping hole of a neck suddenly sprouted tanned flesh, developing into an orb-like shape, a head, which sprouted a messy tuft of chocolate brown hair upon its top.

The shreds of fabric and clothing even began clinging to her unwashed form, draping her body and hiding her nakedness from the world, clothing the body once more utterly and affectionately.

Tsukasa couldn't help but silently watch the spectacle in sheer awe, her heart hammering violently in her chest when the figure suddenly turned to her, completely restored, her golden eyes listlessly jutting themselves in the sobbing woman's direction.

"M-Misao…?" Tsukasa shakily muttered in dizzying confusion, not even fully understanding what it was what she was seeing.

The fully resurrected Misao only placed a steady finger to her pursing lips issuing Tsukasa's silence on the matter, apparently whatever she had just beheld was something neither she or anyone else was never meant to see.

From seemingly nowhere an intense eruption of light exploded from the skull of the Dragon God, ignorant to the emotional display before it and ushering in a blinding glare that consumed the entire area.

The massive drake's head seemed to cave in upon itself bloodily, gullet upon gullet sinking into the next as the dragon literally fell apart in a gruesome display. At the base of the column of the opaque glow protruded a mighty blade, literally tearing itself through the beasts flesh and into the open air from within.

Hastily the sword split open a massive crevice within the already punctured skull of the Dragon God, blowing off gangly pieces of flesh in every direction as the bearer of the blade suddenly rocketed in mid air away from the carnage, completely covered head to toe in the demonic red blood.

The figure delicately planted herself upon the cusp of the cliff behind her, turning to the toppling colossus and letting out a victorious howl to alert the gods themselves of her feat.

The Dragon God lumbered slightly before falling down lifelessly into the ocean of lava it came from, crafting massive tidal waves of the thick citrus substance in every direction like a child splashing in a lake.

Sinking like a punctured ship at sea, the incredible life form, the one and only Dragon God, a sin crafted from man-kind and an offspring of the Old One itself, met its untimely end, slowly but surely being consumed by the lake of fire from whence it came.

A few last spurting gurgles of tortured pain fluttered from its maw before it too was consumed by the magma, the tale of the sword of wishes it seemed, had come full circle, and gripping the hefty blade skyward with untold strength, Patricia knew she had found her very own lucky star.

"Oh, I thought you were dead." Misao nonchalantly called out to the approaching woman completely caked in a bloody essence, the sword of the Dragon God dragged behind her childishly.

"Sorry to gets your hopes up, but I told you I had a plan all along!" The archer cheeked out with a giggle, raising her hand for a triumphant high five and bursting out with a series of joyful snickers when the usually dry Misao happily obliged.

"Um…I don't mean to interrupt but uh…can somebody possibly, I mean if Miyuki and the others are alright first…I mean, please get me down!" Tsukasa called out with a whimper as she still helplessly dangled above the ground.

Shaking her head gently with a sigh, Misao did her best to shepherd up her flock, un-stapling the helpless Tsukasa from the wall, stirring the unconscious Miyuki from her sleep, and ruggedly dragging the hearty little devil that was Konata back to their collective by her hair as punishment for being such a nuisance.

"W-Where's Onee-Chan?" Tsukasa noticed disturbingly as she surveyed their group to find it short one member, but Misao wouldn't allow her mind to falter, the younger Hiiragi twin wouldn't grow strong like she needed to be if she constantly fretted.

"Calm down, I'm sure she's fine, let me go look for her." Misao gently persuaded, rolling her eyes as Tsukasa mumbled and whimpered and jittered about like a puppy. Patty couldn't help but laugh maniacally as the slave wandered out of sight, the excitement she felt was palpable.

"Yeah you do that, and in the mean time I'll be happy to present to the rest of you…the sword of wishes! The sword of the Dragon God!" Patty nearly exploded in a heap of excited grunts as she revealed her newfound blade to her group, who could do nothing but rub their heads sheepishly and congratulate her on the unusual achievement.

"I'm so happy for you, Patty!" Tsukasa giggled excitedly as possible, beholding the demonic weapon with a sense of wonder, it truly was a sight to behold.

"Yeah, you did good kid…not as good as me, but you were at least a B+!" Konata muttered lazily, wrenching out her best thumbs up and crinkled grin she could in her barely-conscious state.

"Izumi-San, you need to conserve your energy." Miyuki reprimanded hastily, trying her best to hold onto the struggling woman who wanted nothing more than to lather every inch of the Dragon God's sword with her astute observations and attention.

* * *

Far off in the distance, beyond which any of the groups waking eyes could ever hope to see, stood a duo of lonely figures who had observed the entire instance of chaos, their arrival, and the destruction of the Dragon God at their hands.

Not only this, but the group had been observed by these individuals since they had first entered Boletaria, the kind saint had told her knight they were special, they weren't like the others, they could succeed where everyone else had failed.

"Who are they, m'lady?" The knight asked despairingly, prepared to do what must be done should her lady will it upon her.

"I don't know, but they are a threat. I don't want to have to kill them, but…if they succeed in their quest they shall bring about only pain to this world." The gentle saint whispered emotionlessly, holding back a crushing lump within her throat and fighting the stingy tears that threatened her mercilessly.

"Do not cry for them m'lady, they are undeserving of your pity. If they seek to harm you I will not allow them to succeed, this I swear to you." The knight brazenly boasted, affectionately clasping an armored hand upon the miniscule red-haired woman, stroking her shoulder with a loving finger, so cold and yet so warmly.

"I know you will my brave knight."

* * *

**Author's Note: **This was one bastard of a chapter to write. I knew what I wanted in it and I even fleshed out every single scene, and amazingly I didn't re-write it once, which is a first for any chapter in this damned story. If you're wondering why my chapters seemingly take so long to get out (One week, usually), I can break down how I write them. Immediately after I post a chapter on the site, I go straight to work on the next one with an idea still fresh in my mind, I write until my mind blocks, and then I stop. I leave the word document open for DAYS ON END and go back to it every time I get a new idea, sometimes this results in me binging and writing the whole thing and sometimes I write it bit by bit over the course of several days. I know this seems like a very stupid way to write but it's how I do it. I get bursts of inspiration not long stints of them; maybe I'll try to rework how I go about writing in order to get chapters out faster. Plus, in all honesty my copy of Tales of Xillia just arrived in the mail and I'm crunching through this beast of a game, so it's been hogging all my time. (There's even implied yuri in it! AWESOME!)

**P.S.** : Reviewkthxlol.


	16. Sin

**Lucky Souls**

* * *

**Chapter 16: Sin**

"You are sure this will work?" Her king spoke to her in a hopeful tone, shielding his sensitive aged vision from the domineering light expunging from his court mage's able hands.

"Well, I can't be sure anything will work when it comes to souls, this isn't science, and we're dealing with an otherworldly nature we still don't fully understand." The mage responded wearily, grumbling when the current of magic strained throughout her form suddenly dissipated, another failure.

"I don't need to understand it, I need to control it." The king abruptly commanded in an almost acerbated tone, he was surely running out of time, the world would not wait for him and he could not keep it waiting either.

Gloomily the emperor sat upon a musty armchair, crossing a jittery leg across his lap and squeezing his aching eyes, he hadn't slept in days, nor could he if he even wished to. The time foretold was fast approaching, and he could do nothing to stop the end without the proper tools, and these souls, the life force of demons, were exactly the tools he needed to set his plan into motion.

Tinkering at the buzzing mechanical device before her, the court mage laboriously continued her vain task, trying every known method she could imagine to entrap the essence of power, the soul, within a catalyst, but her research bore no fruit. Glancing snidely back upon her king, the mage couldn't help but wish she could say something, anything to pry him from his madness.

"Your daughter fears for your health my lord, she knows how feverishly you pursue this." Woefully she began, removing her dabbling fingers from the gears and wires upon her work bench and meeting her king's gaze outright. "Boletaria does not need this, my lord, _you_ do not need this…there are alternatives. Your daughter comes to me each night begging me to persuade you away from this insanity." Before the words even escaped her mouth she knew she had spoken out of turn, her lord instantly stood from his seated position and brutishly crushed a helpless shelf to the ground in a stewing rage.

"_Insanity_? And since when did saving the lives of my people file under the division of insanity? I do what I must for those I love, my people! My daughter! Do you think me a madman, mage? Do you truly wish to consider the grotesque possibility that my actions are done only by the account of some mental illness?" The emperor exploded in a fit of anger the likes of which the poor young mage had never seen, she couldn't help but gulp tenderly and coolly glide her soft black curls behind her ear in an effort to calm herself before her lord's grief.

"I am thinking only of you my lord, and your well-being. I do what I can for you because I truly believe you have the power to change this world, but this is not the way! The Old One is-" Her pleas of forgiveness and reason were ended with a crushing back of the hand, begetting a slithering slick of blood from the now silent mages bruised lip.

"Enough. Tamura I chose you for this job because it cannot be accomplished by anyone else, you have a gift, and I will not let you squander it on your foolish crusade of using that dreadful woman's power, she is the cause of this situation in the first place! Were it not for her I wouldn't even need the Old One's power! I will stop her at all costs, I will give my life to protect my kingdom, and I shall not let your foolishness detract from the flow of progress, do we have an understanding?" The king finished coldly, turning to leave without a word, deafening the silence itself with an explosive slam of the double doors as he vanished from sight.

She sat in contemplation for but a moment before she returned tirelessly to her king's crusade, her burnt mind faded quickly, any hope she had of persuading her lord from his depraved path was all but diminished now.

"All is for my lord."

* * *

"And how long ago was this? And where has the good king Allant gone since then? It's imperative I track him down." The voice owned by her tormentor spoke plainly, her leathery grip solidly crushing her throat in a fierce hold.

"Years, many…many years. And the king…?" A knowing pause, she couldn't relay any more information than she had already expelled. "Dead probably." Ever cheeky was the reminiscing mage Hiyori's tone, even the threat of death couldn't strike fear into her hardened mind.

A dreary sigh lifted from the interrogator's throat as she reaffirmed herself as the dominant voice within the conversation, if she could not make this woman fear her, she must use reason instead.

"Look, I really don't want to kill you, it's not my style." Docile was the inquisitor's tone despite the situation, she held no anger in her heart nor her voice, to be swayed by emotion was to lose any battle, to remain stoic was to succeed.

Hiyori couldn't help but laugh heartily at the sentiment between her gasps for air. "Oh give me a break Nanako, you're an assassin!" The fact of the matter was true enough, what assassin didn't relish in the hunt, what dull-minded individual would beset upon themselves a profession where killing came with the title alone?

"Well…you've got me there, but we assassins have our codes and morals just like anyone else…just like you magical little creatures…and just like foolish kings who herald the hells themselves to wipe out all mankind." The ever cold and blunt hit-woman, Nanako Kuroi, spoke plainly, releasing her stone grip around the larynx of her victim and allow her to fall carelessly to the hard ground.

Wittily Hiyori scooped up the nearest novella she could find, by chance it happened to be one written by her, an identity she claimed as her own so shamefully embroidered in glossy gold upon its surface, the caring book detailed everything there was to know about the properties of souls, how to use them as catalysts for magic and the like, and everything in between.

"I'm sure one of my books could assist you…as they say, I did literally write the book on demons. Or perhaps I could interest you in one of my romance novels? I wrote them during-" A vicious kick against a nearby table sent the measly crafted piece of furniture into a nearby wall, erupting into an explosion of prickly wood chips in every direction. "Hey, or not, that's fine, lots of people don't like romance, you're more the action type right?" Hiyori breathed carefully, pushing her luck even further as the overbearing assassin approached her once more with a more aggressive stance.

"I didn't come all the way to Boletaria, to this god-forsaken kingdom to read books. I came here for a single purpose, to fulfill my contract. I've already callously wasted so much time because of you, I'm literally losing money every second my blade isn't buried in somebody's back." Kuroi began sharply, tearing her pocketed curved blade from within her torso sheathe and gliding the frosty metal on the mage's neck threateningly. "And right now I've got empty pockets, and an annoying little girl with a dagger-less back, would you like me to put two and two together, or have you so graciously reconsidered your standing on the ambiguous location of King Allant?" She finished emotionlessly, searching the quivering magenta eyes before her for any sense of understanding.

Hiyori considered her options for a moment, assisting a dangerous woman in her campaign of unknown intentions against a missing king was the first and foremost of the awful selection, and she could in no way be the perpetrator of more damage than she already had done, she refused it. She could fight or run, but she was emaciated from exhaustion and hunger from her long stay within the prison, she'd be killed or caught. Lying would work, for anyone but the ever perceptive Nanako Kuroi, master of the poker face and reader of minds.

Yet at the notions of death, capture, assisting in destruction and mayhem, the thoughtful woman couldn't help but be truthful. As much as it pained her, the location of her king, the most wanted man in the entire country or more likely the entire world, was unknown to even her. It had been years since the destruction of Boletaria, and in that time she had been preoccupied with business elsewhere, the annihilation of the kingdom was unknown to her for some time, along with the fate of all who inhabited it.

Within her confusion rested mingled gilt, she wasn't one to get down upon herself or anyone for that matter, but when it concerned Boletaria, when it concerned the gentle King Allant, a man who she once claimed could be a fatherly figure to her, her mind beget naught by stinging grief. Had she not assisted the mad king on his crusade, had she simply refused, so much could've turned out so differently.

"Tick tock Tamura, every second you spend peeling your mind for the answer to an oh so simple question, I'm losing money. Have you reconsidered or not?" Kuroi barked out the question as more of an order, as in, there was no ifs ands or buts, one way or another it seemed it was the mages duty to assist her in any way possible, willingly or otherwise.

Fetching her best air-headed smile she could muster, and roosting her gauzy frames upon the bridge of her nose, Hiyori let out an almost unnerving chuckle, carelessly pressing the pronged blade from her throat and standing to remove niggling dust upon her dirtied form.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll help ya. But I really was being truthful, I have no idea where Allant is." Her comment swung full circle with the assassin's blade being wretched once more at her tendered throat. "But, but! There's a but here, geeze will you let me finish? But I know somewhere we could go to find out." The mage finished mysteriously, snickering to herself at the almost mesmerizing face the assassin gave her, wrinkled with pure disinterest and yet with a gleam of captivation, an odd sight to be sure.

Turning tail to her bewildering pile of novels at her feet, Hiyori couldn't help but gleefully snatch several of the more risqué ones into her clutches, bearing the steamy books before her companion.

"And it'll be a long journey too, those Nexus-teleportation thingies you guys got can't connect to there, it's secluded in a way. So we'll need some entertainment…or at least I will! If you like I could read them to you on the way, some are a little dirty, but some exercise for the libido never hurt anyone!" At her childish and perverted comment the erratic woman couldn't help but pout when the crude things were snatched from her hands post-haste and whipped to some nameless corner of her musty cell.

"No! I can hardly stand you talking period kid, if I have to listen to you running your mouth off about…" Leaning in closer to the title of the crusty book, not even the perpetually aloof assassin could stay the crimson blush that riddled her cheeks. "One-hundred and one lovemaking positions that derive pleasure from pain…what the hell?" Kuroi cheeked woefully, almost ashamed she had even embarrassed herself by reading the title aloud.

The callow snickering from the mage before her did nothing to stay her fuming emotions, she was going against every fiber of her being just by being unnerved by such a thing.

"Yeah the title is a little long-winded but it's a good read, trust me! You can study up for when you run into some handsome rogue or something that you need to seduce, you know, to get a hit-job done?" Hiyori playfully prodded, jubilating at the essence of girlish shyness radiating from the usually ever-calm and collected woman.

"I don't…well…do you really think it could get me a man?" Kuroi considered for a moment, shaking her read to encompass her apparently empty brain with blood flow once more, just what was she thinking giving into this dribble? "Wait, wait, wait, I keep forgetting you're an idiot, not to mention god damn it stop trying to butter me up! I don't exactly want this little team-up to result in a friendship." The hit-woman muttered ever more silently, sheathing her furrowed blade and beckoning for the perverted little magician to follow suit.

"Yes ma'am, but I really have to insist on this one, it's all about the sensitive areas of-" Her sexually-induced babble was cut short by a bellowing grunt, it was almost as if the assassin had absolutely no interest in her writings, but how could such a thing be?

"I'm going to regret not skewering your spine, aren't I?"

* * *

"Wait, you're related to that diminutive monster?" The guardswoman spoke to her in an almost astonished tone, but to the questioner, Yui Narumi, it seemed the tiny pink-haired warrior was just as stubby as her missing kin, if not more so.

"Aye, she's my cousin…and from your energetic tone I suspect the two of you have crossed paths?" Yui enquired hopefully, stressfully grasping the bridge of her nose at the seemingly moody air the angry girl seemed to give her at the very mention of her kin, just what had Konata done in her absence?

"Hell yes we did! And it'll be damn unfortunate for the brat if I ever have the displeasure of seeing her again! She and her moronic friend got my subordinate killed!" Akira lashed out violently, retracting her rage only slightly at the noticeable discomfort the comment had caused the quite amiable woman, she had done her no wrong up until this point, there was no reason to be inhospitable. "Well…that's taking it a little too far, I guess. My comrade died due to his own incompetence, that devil of a cousin of yours was just apparently involved somehow." The less than humble knight finished bluntly, only half-listening to their pointless conversation as she directed orders to passing members of her troupe.

"I see, well that's somewhat of a relief…sort of. Did you happen to see where she went?" Yui prodded further, any information regarding her missing kin or her companions was vital in her search, even the most seemingly unorthodox or irrelevant tips could aide her even a little.

"Yeah, she went to the Nexus I think, beyond that she could either be behind that rock over yonder, or a hundred miles away in any direction, look I don't mean to sound rude but are we done? I'm a very busy woman." Akira asked rather boorishly, not even waiting for a response from her conversational partner before she departed wordlessly, back into the crowd of faceless knights at her command.

At the sound of the Nexus, Yui couldn't help but channel her brow confusedly at the odd term, and while she wasn't entirely trustful of the heated warrior she interrogated, she couldn't help but realize her knowledge was stifled just like her own. Beyond the obvious otherworldly demon invasion, there seemed to be something very strange going on in the small northern kingdom of Boletaria, and while the weary guard Yui had no desire to unravel the spiraling mystery, she had an inkling feeling the dark corners would be revealed to her regardless.

She set her fluttering gaze on a hazy mountaintop adjacent to the palace many miles in the distance, a gloomy black smoke loomed hauntingly over its horizon, blotting out any substance within the area. It seemed as suspicious as any, and as far as suspicious areas went she knew her adventurous cousin probably couldn't resist, what better place to begin her frantic search?

* * *

"M'lady forgive me in advance but…are you sure this is a wise plan? The shadowed lands are not fit to be tread upon by your grace, the area is beyond salvation." Her caring knight advised with the upmost caution, but it seemed the saint couldn't be dissuaded, when the usually finicky and shy girl made up her mind about something all arguments were in vain.

"Nothing is beyond salvation dear knight of Garland, we of all souls are proof of this. It isn't just the deliverance of the damned souls I wish to correct either…the Storm Beast, I think those warriors we observed will seek to harm it, I cannot allow them to-" The gentle saint's emotional rant was halted by the crushing hold of a sickly cough permeating from her timid frame, she knowingly felt the tender grasp of her knight upon her buckling shoulders to ease her of the ailing.

"M'lady…you are too kind, this poisoned world does nothing but harm you and you still wish to heal it, we are undeserving of your mercy." Her overbearing knight cow-toed herself to the ground before her idol, her very goddess, she would give up herself entirely in both body and soul if it meant the accomplishment of her ladies goals, the curl of a smile beget from doing her ladies whims, the heat that exhausted itself from her blissful disposition, she relished every passing moment with the woman.

A quaking palm was rested carefully upon the minty-green head of her knight, stroking the budding tuft of hair upon the woman's head in a loving praise.

"Rise my knight, you of all people should never bend thy pride to another, especially one such as me. Please, rise." Her knight hung upon every syllable that escaped the captivating woman's throat, every time she spoke it sent heavy pulses throughout her body, how could such a soul like her lady live in a world of hate and sin, and yet live knowingly ignorant to its horrors, seeking only to heal the fracture collapsed within the world's frame, instead of shy away as anyone else would.

Standing from her appraising stance, the knight of Garland could only heatedly smile upon her ladies beauty silently in response, she knew it pained her lady to see her groveling, but to not place herself under such a figure seemed disrespectful in the upmost, and as a woman of appreciation towards such things, this she could not tolerate.

"To the shadowed lands then, the kin of Izumi cannot be allowed to succeed, lest she undo this world. Come m'lady, we have exhausted our period of waiting…we must act." At her brave words the knight offered an armored palm to her much shorter companion, lovingly curling the woman's tiny fingers into her own larger ones and pulling her onward.

They were alone in this world, outcasts for what they had done, and damned for what they will do, but their roles as the observers were shed with their strong convictions taking hold, their goal was clear to them, Konata Izumi and her companions could not be allowed to succeed in their actions of destroying the arch-demons, and to that end, resting the Old One back to slumber.

* * *

"How is their progress?" The faceless voice echoed from the darkness before her, to which her subservient ally could only feign a lioness yawn and stretch combo, gingerly shaking her head nonsensically.

"Well, they managed to slay the Dragon God, somehow. One down four to go, I guess. If you consider that progress then I guess they're doing swimmingly." Irritated was Misao's voice as the words escaped her lips, she would be lying if she said she hadn't grown slightly attached to her bumbling group of oddball companions, but she felt nothing save disdain towards her master for leaving her in the dark on nigh every aspect of her scheming ways and underhanded plans.

"Astounding, I knew she was…_her_ daughter, but I never expected young Konata to be able to fell a beast of such raw might, she may have a faint chance after all." The voice spoke once more, to itself more than the servant, to which the muddily minded Misao could only sheepishly roll her eyes at, pressing her jutting fang from her mouth onto her dry and cracked lips harshly to detract her mind from the blemish in her vision representing her mysterious master.

"Yeah, it's real great…so, did you…you know, did you think about doing that favor for me?" The questioning slave asked hopefully, turning the role of interrogator onto herself with a glint of longing in her face, but as stoic as ever, the master gave no indication of any feeling towards her plight.

"I have looked into it, and I shall consider it if you continue to show me results slave, however…" The witch paused dauntingly, leaning from the onyx shadows fading over her body and revealing her twinkling golden mask, clasped tightly across her featureless face. "Another slip up like what happened in the mines and I'll make sure your debt is never repaid, are we clear?" Her voice was solid and left no room for argument, Misao was just happy she hadn't received any reprimands without a word of warning first, how unlike the tired old scow, she must've been in an agreeable mood this day.

"Aye." At her mindless agreement, the grimacing woman watched placidly as her master dissolved from plain sight in a fantastic display of golden sheen, removing herself from the Nexus' plane of existence and out of her sight, which is more than she could ever ask for when it came to her saddling mistress.

Folding her blood-spattered hands behind her bemired head, the unusually grim slave fluttered out a rather un-lady-like sigh of resentment before directing her attention upon the vertically challenged idols of the Nexus, beholding their haunting beauty with an almost bubbling jealousy.

"If the gods themselves can die, why can't I?" Misao grumbled to herself, scratching the thought away from her mind with the biting flea that mercilessly chewed upon her dirtied scalp. "Fantastic, and now I've got fleas…I really am a dog." She groaned once more, collapsing her still body into a running motion and leaping gracefully from her mounted position atop the apex of the Nexus, squeezing her eyes shut peacefully as she fell hundreds upon hundreds of feet downward.

To anyone but her the fall would be fatal, and as she planted the landing in an almost hinged step that bordered on the supernatural, she wished she was anyone but her.

"Oh!" An anxious gasp at her sudden arrival, and the cogent hearing capabilities of the slave recognized it as the younger of the Hiiragi twins, she just had a certain air about her, feeble and noisy, her presence was easily singled out amongst the rest of the flock.

"Little Hiiragi, sorry, didn't mean to startle you." Misao approached almost the jittery girl in an almost motherly fashion, noticing her unnerved behavior nigh instantly, she wondered how much she had seen of what transpired in the altar of the mines.

"It's…fine, I…I just actually wanted to tell you Kona-Chan wishes to speak with everyone." Her voice was noticeably quaky in response, with a diversion of the eyes Tsukasa wordlessly turned her back on the poor slave, leaving her to silently ache over another broken trust. If the opportune moment arrived perhaps she would explain what the hapless girl had seen, but it was a story for another day, there was so much to do and so little time to fritter away on socializing.

* * *

"The Monumental says Kagamin is…gone. Not dead, just…gone. Somehow she's evaded its gaze or something, I thought only me and my dad could do that, is Kagamin a super hero or something too?" Konata poignantly explained, trying her best to stay level-headed in such a dreary situation. She had just found her loved ones after days of searching tirelessly, only to lose a most precious soul once more to some continued swathe of terrible luck. Not to mention the brush with death she had was still gently taking its toll upon her recovering body, the humble amount of toxin that remained within her system was less than required to be fatal according to the Monumental, somehow her body had been drained of the overbearing amount of the poison.

"While your status as super hero is certainly still in debate…" A voice chimed in, removing its bearer, the dirtied servant Misao, from the darkness with it. "That is certainly unusual, the clay kid usually knows what it's talking about when it comes to stuff like this." At her own comment Misao couldn't help but dribble her brain for some grasp of knowledge concerning things that fell outside the Monumental's chronically all-seeing eyes. Not even the Old One, the bane of the world and the epitome of all evil, could hope to hide itself from the Monumental, and yet day by day it seemed this cadre of strange individuals she surrounded herself continued to surprise her in this way.

"But she was right there with us, wasn't she? Where could she have gone, and more peculiar still, how the hell did she vanish so quickly?" Patty added in, even the festive air about her was dimmed slightly at the mysterious disappearance of her comrade, and while the collection of her magical sword filled her with glee, she couldn't help but not wish to damper everyone else's spirits with her own happiness in such a time as this.

Mutely mulling the situation over in her head, Miyuki racked her mind at the statement of a place beyond which even the Monumental's gaze can see, a land secluded and barred away from the troubles of existence, a terra incognita to even Boletaria, while it pained her as the despairing thought came to her, she knew her silence had to be broken were her friend's life to be saved.

"I…I may know where Kagami-Chan is." She started in a near whisper, her comment austere enough to deafen the argumentative tones around her. "When I was young, my mother brought me to an isolated dell upon the mountain tops on the edge of Boletaria…she called them…the shadowed lands." With her continued explanation, the worrisome mage couldn't help but catch the gleam of heated interest in the nearby Patricia's eye, it seemed almost angry.

Misao's silence was broken at her comments with a cautious cackle. "The shadowed lands…? Uh, wow. Even my master has never sent me there, that place is bad juju, what the hell did you travel there for?" Her question was legitimate enough to spark an almost nervous fret in the plum eyes of the usually composed mage.

"Training, to become a full-fledged mage…this was many years ago you see, long before the colorless fog enveloped Boletaria. I believe I was three years of age at the time?" Miyuki recalled gently, trying not to overflow her senses with a plethora of memories before she was prepared to analyze them properly, without wavered emotion.

"Yuki-Chan, you underwent those arduous trials at such a young age?" Tsukasa asked nearly taken aback by the revelation, while she wasn't entirely knowledgeable of what the mages trials entailed, she knew that they tested the mind and body to the fullest, many trainees died or dropped out altogether from the sheer difficulty of the tests.

"Yes, my mother wanted to ensure my gift was well taken care of before she departed to unknown lands. The shadowed lands, at the time, were a peaceful place. Complete serenity would be the only way to describe it, it was often known as the most beautiful sanction of Boletaria, for its endless seas of flowers as far as the eye could see." Miyuki recalled thoughtfully, almost choking up at the somewhat afflicting memories, while she recalled many happy times with her dear mother within those forgotten temple walls, behind the sugar-coated dream surged a pathogen of pain, ever growing.

At the mage's tale Misao fiddled curiously with her Nexus-bound medallion, furrowing a brow when she realized the magical token wasn't responding to her touch as per usual, it wasn't her though, it was the location she deemed to travel to.

"No dice, not even my master's emblem can connect to the shadowed lands…guess isolated was the right term to use here." Stuffing the twinkling coin into her pocket, the slave couldn't help but remember one very key detail missing from Miyuki's explanation. "Hey hold up, how do you know Hiiragi is there? Why would she go there?" The slave eyed her carefully, but the sorceress offered a most alien look with her downwardly shaking head.

"I don't know…but what I do is that those lands are special, my mother told me they were a sanctuary for mages, and all those who felt the divines benign touch. A place free of persecution, a place where we might freely use our special talents for the greater good." Miyuki began once more, heaving a gentle sigh of woe from deep within. "This is however, why the entire area was suffocated within a blinding smog, yet it was not ethereal, it was barrier to keep the world out…and we mages in." At her somewhat dreary tale, the thoughtful mage couldn't help but warmly smile as she felt Tsukasa's soft hand glide across her shoulder affectionately.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't stay, our lives would've been a whole lot worse off without you." At Tsukasa's kind words, the amiable meganekko couldn't help but shutter out a rumbling snicker, knowing she agreed in every sense, being a magician was her life, and being surrounded by those who were just like her was always a comfortable environment, but she felt far more at home amongst her friends.

At the sudden silence Konata couldn't help but spring to life with a jolt of fury, her eyes burning with courage as per her usual stance. "All right then! There's no two ways about it, my Kagamin is in trouble and we know where she is, there's no time to lose!" Her daring words trailed off into the distance as she sprinted off towards the arch stones, sword in hand and heart full of love were the only supplies she needed for her adventure.

"Kind of makes you wish she could just be poisoned forever, eh? At least she was quieter." Misao muttered with a rude groan, following in suit as the group readied themselves before the stones to set out upon another dangerous journey. "But regardless this works out, the Monumental said another one of the arch fiends was 'sposed to be skulking around the shadowed highlands, crazy coincidence." The slave noted as she unhinged her spear from its crested casing, twirling it gracefully to make sure she still had that aggressive swing.

As Patty watched her companions jubilate in their quest, minds free of worry, their hearts knowing they would succeed in not only locating their missing companion but defeating yet another overbearingly powerful foe, she couldn't help but brush it all aside in favor of the mage.

She had lied after all, she had been to Boletaria whether she was lax to admit or not, had she forgotten or straight up lied? Did she have any involvement with the murderers who destroyed her entire life in one fell swoop of seemingly aimless chaos and wanton slaughter? She knew she did not, she knew this woman could not be the same as the witch who's lightning-tipped boots fried the soil below her feet, but the resemblance was uncanny.

A relative, the same woman using a magical trick, or perhaps it was the demons she commanded running afoul upon her shattered mind. Regardless of the circumstances, regardless of who or what this woman was to her, or the relationship she had with the murderers who ruined the poor archer's world, Patty couldn't help but grit her teeth sharply, and grip her blade rancorously.

The song of home she sang in her fuming mind did nothing to crown her rage, but behind her anguish beat a looming sadness, revenge surely was a fickle thing.

* * *

**Author's Note: **All the players are set, and it seems all eyes point to these shadowed lands…this can't end well. Short chapter, very short chapter in fact. But that's only because I didn't want to bust into the new arc half-way through a chapter. Normally I like to wait a week or so before I update with a new chapter, but hey, I was inspired to write, enjoy this crap will you? I tried to remove as much of the stink as possible.


	17. The Temple Beyond The Sky

**Lucky Souls **

* * *

**Chapter 17: The Temple Beyond The Sky **

"The flowers are all gone." A tone of gross disbelief overtook her shuddering voice, averting her gaze from the depressing sight was all she could do to maintain her composure.

Her childhood wonderland was a sickly rendition of its former self, the glorious temples devoted to the arcane arts and gracious deities were destroyed and forgotten, melting into the stuffy mountainsides with passing age.

Too high for consuming clouds to skewer the azure skies glory, the sky was now a dreary watercolor painting of varying shades of dry grey, the land below its majesty was deathly ill, rotten trees and browning plant life littered the area, struggling to ascertain any miniscule amount of nourishment they could in such a time of strife.

Yet what struck her most was not the absence of her peers, the decay of the structures nor the haunting sky that beget fluttering ash seemingly from nowhere from the cloudless expanse. It was the flowers, numerous and alluring, vast fields dotting everywhere they could find the means to sprout forth. In the halcyon days, they would jut from buildings; invade homes through the wooden floors and walls, seas of the dainty plants exploding in your vision wherever you ventured within the shadowed lands.

And now the beautiful parasite that created the very life essence of these mountains were no more, and all that remained were the scorched and sundered badlands of Boletaria, grey and lifeless, their beauty was lost.

"This was…the court yard. I…I recall my mother and I standing right here, she told me this was an institute for people like me." Miyuki breathed out reminiscently, holding a shivering palm to her chest and shielding her eyes from the horrors before her.

At her nostalgic musings the sorceress couldn't help but carelessly intrude upon some slumbering demon's rest, her allies cautiously called out to her but their cries held no weight in her ears. Glazing her eyes towards the monster, she saw it to be a reanimated skeleton, neglected of its fleshly coating or any clothing, and yet she knew the monstrosity could only be a far gone disciple of the shadowed temple, his mind lost to the madness that was the Old One's taint, his soul lost to the hunger that was the Old One's insatiable greed.

She cradled her aching heart but for a moment before she effortlessly rid the shambling bones of its demonic existence with a crushing fireball, the heated explosion reflecting her defunct home away from home in her glossy eyes.

"Yuki-Chan, are you alright?" She recognized the amiable voice as her dear friend Tsukasa, but the gentleness of it only sounded in her ears as another soul. Her mind slowly dissipated as she allowed herself to remember a time where their world was bewitching, a time when the flowers did bloom.

* * *

"Miyuki, are you alright?" The loving voice requested only her happiness, fostering concern in her offspring's moment of uncertainty.

The young Miyuki could only shakily nod, hiding her innocently embarrassed face upon her mother's warm body, seeking comfort of any measure, she didn't wish to become a mage, she coveted only to remain by her loving mother's side.

An angelic laugh trembled from her mother at the child's wariness, she knew her daughter was cautious of the exotic temples now, but she would come to accept it as her home away from home in no time at all, this she knew for certain.

The alluring mother knelt to her diminutive daughter's eye level, cresting a gentle hand underneath the young girl's shuddering chin. "Now, now, child...you must be strong. These hallowed walls beckon to you, without you they cannot find rest, they are not whole. They want you to grow, and to engross yourself with all that life has to offer. It is a place for people like us, a womb to nourish our very special gifts." Her dear mother recited almost poetically, grasping the child's tiny hand once more and steadily pulling her forward towards her new life.

* * *

The memory was gone as completely as the flowers, and at Tsukasa's incessant probing the sorceress nodded her head affirmatively, hugging her eyes shut tightly to stay the aggressive dampness around them.

"I'm sorry everyone, I need to be more alert to danger. It's just…this place is very nostalgic to me, is all. I apologize if I'm not at my finest." Miyuki pardoned emotionally, and yet the sunny demeanor her friends were so accustomed to seemed to not be present, there was an emptiness about her voice, a dry sadness.

"Apologizing doesn't always cut it." An affronted tone sounded, its bearer the perpetually amiable archer Patty, her face contorted into one of sheer disgust, and all of it aimed directly at Miyuki.

Konata recognized the ugliness of her companion's words and couldn't help but step in. "Hey now Patty, she said she was sorry, no need to get nasty." The blunette tried softly to explain, but her words fell on deaf ears, the markswoman only diverted her gaze and silently trotted off ahead of the group, nose to the ground glumly.

The silence was broken as Misao moaned awkwardly, approaching the speechless Miyuki and clasping a lanky arm around her neck covertly. "I don't mean to intrude upon personal matters, but that kid's been on your case ever since you two first met. I don't know what her deal is, and frankly I don't care, but I can't have her throwing an emotional tantrum every time you open your mouth, talk to her please, lest our group morale sink any lower." While her words were blunt, Miyuki saw the truth behind their sting.

"Patty-Chan, wait!" She called out to the detached woman, practically feeling the undeserving anger pouring from the downtrodden figure as she lifelessly shoveled on at a snail's pace, deaf to the mage's apologetic whims, and angered by them exponentially, she knew all her mustered self control wouldn't last for long, she would explode if she didn't expunge even a fraction of all of her excess anger.

Turning to her approaching comrade, Patty bit her lip confusedly, lacquering her eyes with darkness as she attempted to understand why she felt such seething hate for this poor woman. It couldn't have been the witch who burrowed like a disease into her fractured thoughts, the resemblance was uncanny but the two were nothing alike.

The witch was absolute in her fury, cold and chaotic, so unlike the young Miyuki in every aspect. And yet every time she saw the mage smile, that careless curl of the lip which shown only tenderness, only one word came to mind, unfair.

Patty's arms fell helplessly to her sides, she was beside herself with uncertainty, she didn't want to hate someone she didn't even know, it wasn't in her to hate any soul no matter how damned, but as her muddied rage subsided, all the markswoman could do was grip her blade, the Dragon God's sword, within her steady hands.

The hum of power that surged within her as she glided a hand across its stone surface, it truly was a mystical relic, a sword of wishes, how could such a divine prospect be so startlingly bereft of any heart by contrast to its name, a blade of desires that beget nothing but grief.

"You know this sword is supposed to be able to grant wishes, any wish no matter what…it's an unspoken contract, the blade supposedly delves into your heart and whatever lies within is granted." Patty recited knowingly, having told the tale literally thousands of times throughout the years; she almost considered it her life story at this point.

Miyuki studied the blade carefully, while aesthetically it presented itself as a blade, she sensed a powerful force radiating from its stony workings. Mages were more attuned to the world, sensing the unnatural came naturally to them, and this blade, this sword of the Dragon God surely was no mere token of appreciation wrought in the arch-fiend's name.

She hesitated before responding, bending her bleak frown into a content smile before even meeting the drifter's gaze once more. "I see, that's truly fascinating…did you seek the sword to have your wishes granted?" The mage's comment surely wasn't humorous in nature, but it didn't seem to stop Patty from breaking down into a most unnerving fit of laughter, a trembling hand collapsed over her bloodshot eyes.

"Something like that I guess, but it seems I'm more of a fool than I thought. This is the second time my pleas have been ignored." Patty mumbled despairingly as she brushed a threatening tear from her eye, she couldn't have guessed that after all this time simple memories could still have such an effect on her, she thought herself completely desensitized, but apparently this wasn't the case.

"The second time?" Miyuki's admiring whisper was clouded distinctly by the uninvited squeal of some unseen force, wretched and ear-splitting, at the apex of its overbearing call a violent convulsion of the earth shook beneath the duo's feet.

Miyuki could hear the cautious hollering of her approaching companions at her back, and yet she was far more concerned about what steeled its otherworldly gaze in her direction. Patricia had yet to notice the dangerous foe, its portly form shrouded in a hellish miasma, and with a expert crack of the wrist the sorceress wordlessly propelled her ally out of the hazard zone with her telekinetic grip, losing her footing with the grace of a novice at the crushing gallop of the beast that made its presence known within her quaking vision.

"You have got to be frickin' kidding me." A voice sounded behind the stumbling mage, the bearer an all too eager Konata bearing her lengthy blade from her stunted frame. "Tsukasa, Miyuki, this is the big bastard we first saw when we _came_ to Boletaria! This screwball is the one that killed me! Or…kind of killed me, I keep forgetting, are we alive or dead? Stupid Monumental makin' everything confusing." The azure knight's incessant babbling was curtailed by an aggressive stomp from the grayish demon, as much as she remembered its glossy sulfur-hued eyes; the mindless beast equally seemed to remember the dainty opponent in kind.

The beast looked no different, human-esque in body, albeit fat and bulbous, its head riddled with fluttery tentacles like a squid, leaving its face nigh featureless sans the glowing yellow eyes. Its tough grey hide was wrinkled and aged like an elephant, its tree-trunk legs even resembling the exotic creatures in some way.

In a manner beyond childish, Konata erupted into a fit of almost evilly tinged laughter, she couldn't contain herself, what luck! The brute that had single-handedly thrown their early tenured adventure into complete disarray dared to rear its ugly face into their affairs once more? She wouldn't give it the satisfaction of victory again; she would show it the bitter feeling of complete defeat.

A valiant finger extended to the heavens, a cocky smile loftily written across the young warrior's face, her emerald eyes shown only the beasts defeat within, she would be the demon's event horizon, its escape was impossible, its destruction was assured.

"Hey Miyuki, I want you to do something for me." Konata asked with a chuckling nudge, brazenly steering her blade downward with a cheek-tearing smile, she had the upmost confidence in herself it seemed. "My blade, is there any way you can give it more backbone? This measly spine won't do against chubs here." At the wily warrior's suggestion Miyuki faltered in confusion for but a passing moment before she caught on.

Her soft hand clasped sternly around the compact make of the steel, it dug into her hand slightly, sharp enough to draw her blood pitilessly. The crimson essence seeped onto the burnished metal, forming a taught mold-like sleeve around it effortlessly. Konata wondered at the spectacle with a knowing smile, watching as a gelatinous aura, a ghostly extension of her blade, grew parasitically from the tip of the weapon.

To test it, the haughty knight swung her extended blade downward, and with a magical strike it cleanly dug a deepening crevice into the earth far past the sword's normal length. The smoldering crack through the solid stone only helped to solidify her courage, victory was absolute.

Konata lay her eyes upon the fallen abnormality, its golden eyes cutting holes of doubt into her steeled form, but she could not be swayed now. A furrow of the brow, a tenacious and unforgiving curl of her pouted lips, a magically induced blade gripped tightly in her sweaty palms, every aspect of herself seemed to shudder to a deathly silent halt as the gray demon beset upon her in a thrashing rage.

A downward swing of a goliath fist crested the earth cleanly, but a lightning quick dodge by Konata put the effort to vain. It was an instant replay of the first time she had encountered the beast, callously she dived under its lumbering tree trunks of legs, and without a doubt in her mind she knew what would come next.

A vicious horse kick zooming backwards at the demon's unseen foe, but this time she knew the pattern, she ducked briskly, clenching her eyes harshly at the exploding waves of howling dust that burned her eyes. The demon followed up with another vicious stomp to crunch it laying foe into the dust, a roll expertly displaced her from the danger zone, and it was at this crucial moment she saw her single opening.

Vertically and with expunging power she collapsed the blade onto the ground, and the fizzling magical fire that erupted from the swords tip extended itself to the grotesque form of the monster, cleanly separating it at the shoulder and carving the lumbering monstrosity in two.

The ensanguined halves of the whole collapsed in divided paths, spilling the nameless bits of fleshy guts of the fiend in every foreseeable direction, lathering the ground below in a pulpy mess.

A one-hit wonder for the ages, the azure knight grinned as she gripped her magically fueled sword, relishing in the scraping sound of a blade returning to its arabesque red sheathe, the buttoned clicking of the sealing, it was the sound of a battle well fought.

"I've grown; paper tigers like you are no match for me now." Konata boisterously proclaimed, raising a victorious pointer to the all but shocked gods once more to unsettle their very immortality, big news to all who deigned to tread with the title demon, there was a new hero on the block, and all would fall before her blade.

Miyuki couldn't place find the amount of energy required for exact emphasis regarding her friend's flawless victory, she could only flutter out a contented laugh, which spread like a virus through her allies.

"Kona-Chan…" Tsukasa spoke from the silence, eagerly pressing a hand to her friends shoulder amicably. "That was incredible, where did you learn to do that?" At her inquiry the unusually humble woman could only casually shrug.

"I don't know...the movements felt natural, as if I'd done them before. Surprising, considering I never was very good with the blade, better at makeshift plans with the ol' noggin'." Konata scoffed with a thumping tap to her gearing brain, a vivacious heckle from the crowd of women at her back came in no time at all, as somewhat expected.

Gingerly an arm collapsed around Konata's sinking shoulder, connected to a sneering listless-eyed Misao. "Yeah I'll bet, you gonna have us believe you can dress yourself in the morning too?" The slave playfully prodded, Konata's only response was to craft her face childishly into a deformed mess of pulled eye sockets and jutting tongues.

Absconding from the warm laughter permeating throughout the group, Miyuki generously placed her attention towards the approaching Patricia, a bit dirtied from the sudden hurling, but altogether intact. The sorceress graciously bowed her head in amends, hoping any action, even one as seemingly minor as saving one's life in a perpetually dangerous land, would improve her standing with the archer.

"Are you alright?" Miyuki began as softly as possible, attempting to brush away the clingy dust upon the woman's torso only to have it rudely slapped away. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to do that so suddenly, I had to think quickly." Her words were as kind as ever, warm and caring without a single thought to anyone but herself, Patty couldn't help but feel terrible for the way she treated this woman.

The markswoman turned to face the sorceress, to gaze as deeply into her face as she could, in every physical way the woman before her resembled her tormentor. The vibrant curly pink locks cascading down her back, the tender and innocent stare, the extremely docile tone of a woman who had never scorned another no matter how much they had harmed her, in all these ways she resembled the witch.

"Takara-San." The archer announced plainly, waiting a moment to stay the quivering afflicting her lips as she garnered her failing courage once more. "I'm sorry for the way I've treated you up until this point…but…I can't shake this weird feeling, I feel like I know you." Patty's hushed voice dimmed slightly; she could practically hear her thumping heart routinely snapping within her ears as she spoke.

Miyuki's head cocked slightly at the revelation, while some of her earlier memories of life were indeed obscured by the passing of time, in her short period of life she couldn't ever remember this young woman's face, this fiery warrior so full of passion, so resolute and sure of what she wanted in life and how she would obtain it. Her personality reminded her of a certain bluenette, but beyond this aspect, the face was unknown to her, the life lived was unknown to her.

"But that's impossible…" Patty began again, her determination wavering as she became increasingly hesitant towards interrogation. "Because well I…you're just not the same, as I remember you I mean. If it were you in my memories, you wouldn't be this…this kind, or sweet, or anything like you are now." Emotionally Patty finished, her jittering eyes searching Miyuki's for some semblance of an understanding, for some concrete knowledge of what she spoke of.

Miyuki opened her mouth to usher what little feedback she could scrounge up, but her explanation was stifled before her tongue even curled by the hearty laugh of Konata at her back, tapping her blissfully as her commendation for the assistance in the immaculate battle, without the sorceress' magic after all, the knight might've not had the edge she needed to fell the beast so easily.

"And it's all thanks to Miyuki, her power is amazing!" The words of praise left Konata, but they entered the mage's ears as another, a voice from her shadowed past, a soul that would change her own forever.

* * *

"Her power is amazing, Takara-San. Your daughter has not only passed the novice trails, but the advanced ones as well! Normally if our students pass the advanced set, if at all actually, it isn't until they are in adulthood. But your child, at the age of seven no less, has managed to effortlessly pass every trial we have placed before her! This is unheard of in all of mage-kind!" The ecstatic and to the young Miyuki, faceless voice of one of the many overseers spoke to her mother, who nodded pleasantly at each passing compliment.

Bashfully Miyuki hid her face from the woman, pouting childishly and earning a steady laughter from the two towering figures above her, always finding humor in situations she could not.

"Little one, the nice overseer has just given you a colorful array of compliments, have you nothing to say?" Her mother urged with a warm smile, prying the hiding face of the young Miyuki from her bundled dress and turning her quivering form towards the daunting overseer.

"T-Thank you." The young girl's meager thanks were spent and bashfully she returned to her coddled hiding spot, shielding her vision from the talkative adults.

"No, young mistress, the thanks are all mine." The overseer spoke even more humbly than she, bowing his head to the child in a loving praise. "Takara-San, I don't normally do this, not even for our master students. But I believe your young Miyuki may be ready for training in the soul arts." At the overseer's suggestion even the stoic mother Takara was momentarily taken aback, her mouth fell slightly agape, the master sensed her apprehension.

To the innocent Miyuki however, the gravity of what the adults around her spoke of made little sense, she heard her name, knew it concerned her, but beyond that didn't have the perception to fully understand or even care. All it sounded like to her was more work, more tests and trials, more rigorous training to become a mage, which she didn't even want to be in the first place.

The heavy tones in the air quickly melted between the two adults, who we once again laughing mindlessly and chattering away about some nameless person Miyuki didn't care about, how was it adults were able to switch between highly contrasting emotions so quickly? To forget the sad times and simply laugh about them? It was times like these Miyuki wished she had some friends of her own age to play with, somebody she could understand, somebody she could laugh with and even get sad with.

* * *

"We should keep going, that fat bastard probably alerted every able bodied demon in the area, and un-able bodied ones too." Misao's cautious tone returned the thoughtful mage from her memory-induced daydream, to which the group of adventurer's did not protest.

It seems even the cloudy smog that secluded the mountain temple wasn't enough to keep the colorless fog from breeching its barrier, to poison the world with its insipid ways and sway every living creature with its demonic influence.

Miyuki lingered a moment behind the departing group, she disquietly admired the enrapturing view of the valleys far below the cragged and jagged mountains at her feet. They rose above the very clouds, piercing the heavens themselves inexorably, claiming themselves king among the highest reaches of the world. The golden aura of the sun tore through the dainty clouds, adding what little beauty it could to the desolate world of Boletaria far below, vainly attempting to recreate what could once be considered, a thriving beauteous countryside.

An unsettling screech diffused throughout the sunny expanse, and Miyuki beheld a wondrous sight, a pack of young storm beasts, offspring of the great Storm King, one of the archfiends of the Old One. The creatures while young, floated tightly upon a wingspan of nearly twelve feet across, and in body shape somewhat resembled manta rays of the great oceans.

A long mouse-like tail jutted from the beast's posteriors, and the grayish skin was scaly like a reptiles, yet with the fuzzy membrane of a woodland mammal. The underbelly was a delicate shade of pink, and patterned and lined like a snake's slithering stomach, and the head of these creatures, if it could be called that, was nearly non-existent. A diminutive expanse of flesh in the shape of an orb near the gaping neck, the sides of the creature were dotted with gaping gills akin to a fish, with beady little soulless eyes on the tips of two lanky stalks.

The flock of fluttery air rays passed by quickly, fading into the blinding sunlight partially blocked by the never-ending series of shadowed temples covering every snow-tipped mountain. They were likely returning to their parent, their progenitor, the master of storms and a force of nature itself, the Storm King. This was their target as commanded by the Monumental; the beast of the storms must be eradicated, just another day for these unfortunate souls it seemed, just another fleeting moment of the chaos that was Boletaria.

* * *

"You know doors have knobs for a reason." The assassin's companion moaned at the brutish nature of the woman, who had just effortlessly crushed a defenseless door into fractions of cycling dust in the air, and all sarcasm from the strange little mage Hiyori aside, there was no time to waste on trivialities.

"Cut the crap, I'm not paying you to be snarky, I need results." Kuroi's attitude was as seemingly calm as ever, despite the heated atmosphere between the two, and the overbearingly dangerous location they found themselves in.

"You're not paying me at all!" To stay the mage's moaning came a rough push from behind into the waiting darkness within their target location, a building that by exterior, somewhat resembled an observatory, it wasted no expense in mimicking the appearance of one at any rate, but the duo knew what lay within was no mere telescopic device to study the stars.

"Nonsense, I'm paying you with your life. If that's not valuable enough…" At the admonishing suggestion Hiyori couldn't help but laugh nervously, she certainly did value her life, a payment of mercy would have to be enough for her services, and in all honesty the assassin did free her from her long imprisonment, and that was more than payment enough.

Kuroi surveyed the great machine before her, a technological advancement the likes of which she had never seen, the beast of science somewhat resembled a bulky furnace but with prong-like protrusions towering upon the scalp of its metal hide. "So what exactly is this? And how will it help us track down Allant?" She asked the mage as she fiddled with the machinery, gliding a leather-bound hand across its metal surface and rubbing the darkened soot that clung to her searching fingers.

A few flicks of some dusty switches and the cranks and twists of some knobs was all it took for the slumbering device to spurt to life suddenly, the eruption of clanking gears and turbines motoring effortlessly suddenly rung throughout the area, the mechanical wonder even fumed out a hazy gas.

"Back when I considered myself part of the mage community, I stopped by the temples here and now again. The overseers weren't exactly ecstatic to have my meddling ways butting into every affair of theirs, so they…" An interrupting gargle from the assassin notified the reminiscing Hiyori that a full recap was not needed, best to aim for abridged version in these types of situations anyway. "Well, long story short, this device allowed the mages of the shadowed temples to gain the power of celestial sight, boundless vision in other words. They could in theory, view any individual at any time or anywhere throughout history for cataloguing, study, or just plain meddling like I said." At the mage's detailed explanation Kuroi couldn't help but deviously remember that final aspect, meddling certainly had its uses after all.

"How?" The hit-woman asked plainly, almost as if she wasn't entirely impressed with the godlike machine of magical wonder.

"Well, a very long time ago before mankind itself there existed these beings, they were called the Monumentals. They possessed the power of foresight, they could see things that anteceded or preceded events beyond their current timeline, basically they could see into the future or the past." Hiyori explained as she jammed the final glaring button upon the machine, watching knowingly as it fluttered fully to life, exploding into an aura of golden hues which formed the shape of their planet between the metallic holdings.

The globe shaped vision was completely ethereal as Kuroi noticed, poking a prodding finger into nothing but fizzling color around her form, it seemed like some type of illusion, magical in nature, the mages of the world were truly frightening creatures when it came to the advanced knowledge of just about everything. Thinking about it, the assassin hypothesized that in their prime they probably could've ruled the entire world, had they wished it, and yet they let all that power they possessed lay dormant, seemingly to waste.

"The Monumentals used to be mages, in fact they were the ancient rulers of this land, before it became the mages sanctuary, and _long_ before Allant ever sought to colonize this seemingly empty country." Hiyori continued, and at the mention of Allant, the assassin couldn't help but notice a tinge of uneasiness in her voice, it was probably nothing. "At any rate, they channeled the power of demons souls to allow them the power of foresight. Demons as you know are spawn of the Old One, a being that has existed before time itself. Ironic isn't it? The very beast the Monumentals wanted to destroy…they had no choice but to use its own power to seal it away." At her studied explanation Kuroi seemingly grasped hold of what they would be using the device for; she couldn't help but laugh utterly in joy.

"Not bad Tamura, not bad at all. You know I was gonna kill you after we were done here? I've decided not to though…that was my original mission after all, until you had to yuck it up and get me trapped in that abysmal prison." Kuroi's voice of appreciation descended into the condescending, but Hiyori shrugged it off, but at the notion of having a bounty on her life she couldn't help but nervously twitch.

"There's a price on my head?" Hiyori apprehensively questioned, and the unsympathetic laughter she received in response was all the confirmation she really needed, but knew the assassin would have to rub it into her already salted wounds.

"Are you absolutely kidding me?" Kuroi snickered coldly, retrieving a moldy and crinkled wanted sheet from her pocket and clearing her throat mockingly before digging into it. "Hiyori Tamura, age unknown, personality described as amorous, foolish, childish, yet somehow maintains an elusive nature. Wanted for crimes against humanity, crimes against state, including but not limited to murder in nth degree, acquisition of stolen property of the state, high treason against the monarchy that rules this land…and oh, the juiciest bit, aiding in the destruction of Bol-" The assassin's ceaselessly cruel commentary was cut short by the grinding of the heated machine, almost on purpose she noticed, to which she could only muddle to herself placidly that she had set the magician in her place, perhaps now the incessant whining and perverted antics would stop.

Mulling over the cankerous list of her crimes, Hiyori couldn't help but choke up dismally at her sins. She didn't need to be reminded of them, she knew what she had done and she knew she could never hope to correct the mistakes of the past, and yet she tried every day, grain by grain she would rebuild her shattered world until it was whole again, until Boletaria was whole again.

The floating orb suddenly halted, having finally ascertained the location of the individual the machine interminably searched for, the good king of Boletaria, Allant the twelfth. The twirling mechanisms below the globe halted, and the machine's holographic projection of their planet lifelessly fizzled out of existence, the machine stopped its feverish workings and shut down on queue.

Kuroi confusedly surveyed the dead device, giving it a childish kick before she turned to the silent magician. "Hey, what gives? This thing outta juice or something?" The assassin inquired angrily, her patience was only tested further when the usually chirpy woman refused to give her a clear answer beyond a few mindless whispers seemingly to herself.

"Allant is beyond your reach, Nanako." Hiyori mysteriously answered, pressing her glassy frames upon the bridge of her nose and hopping down from the extended platform with a light thud, Kuroi softly laughed at the assurance.

"I'll be the judge of that, now where is the good king?" Kuroi hastily commanded, slightly unnerved by the sober tone of voice the peppy magician had suddenly taken.

Hiyori waited a moment before she eyed the door behind her tormentor; her downtrodden pout suddenly crafted itself into a barmy grin, a set of glossy teeth baring themselves in a buffoonish nature. "The better question might be, where isn't he?" Abstruse in essence, the mage's odd comment was bereft of any solid answers, nor did she wish to grant an explanation, she had distracted the foolish assassin long enough.

A fiery pair of lightning bolts too quick to follow with mere human eyes suddenly exploded from Hiyori's scorched palms, crushing themselves into the assassin's torso and sending the addled woman soaring into the rusty remains of the machine, effectively incapacitating her captor and destroying her only lead to the missing king.

"Agh! Tamura!" The assassin hollered out in pain as she tore herself from the shattered remains of the foresight machine, helplessly clinging to her bloodied breast and fuming in anger as the mage escaped with a haughty laugh, she was certainly the most interesting target the hit-woman had ever gotten, this could be certain.

* * *

"M'lady." The knight alerted her saint regrettably from the gentle hold of slumber, lifting the dreary woman to her feet and pointing to the distance where an obscured collection of passing dots moved inwardly into the temple grounds.

"They have arrived." The kind saint whispered knowingly, holding her hands together solemnly for a facile prayer before weakly turning to her knight with curved eyes. "Come, let us waste no time." Muttered the priest once more, her usually angelic voice was crushed by a joyless despair, the knight knew her lady took no pleasure in her job as the observer, but the ordained destiny of the clan Izumi was easily understood, the destruction of the Old One.

The pair knew they could not allow Izumi to succeed, to rest the eternal god to its endless slumber once more, they knew what must be done, though it was critical to their kind natures in contrast, they knew regrettably that Izumi had to die.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Ohey guys, another somewhat short chapter, sorry about that. I'd like to say that I'm not doing it on purpose but I sort of am…I find that if I limit the average chapter length to 5-7K words, chapters are done within about 3-5 days. If I aim for an 8-10K average like I attempted to do for the first part of the story, chapters took about 7-10 days by contrast. Would people rather wait longer for longer chapters, or have shorter chapters in a shorter time? I don't know, but I'll mix it up between longer and shorter chapters depending on where the plot is, which is about to get very character driven for awhile, so excuse me if I seemingly ignore this world I'm trying to create in favor of a little heavy character development. Hasta la bye bye! Since I'm seemingly so inspired lately, I'm sure the next chapter will be out in a jiffy.


	18. Dreams

**Lucky Souls**

* * *

**Chapter 18: Dreams **

A consistent soul believes in destiny, a capricious one in chance. To the observers of destiny the word chance was devoid of meaning, man kinds free will was only extended so far as to lead them along the path of destiny, the choices they made were all just part of a greater scheme of events.

Was it by aimless chance or prewritten destiny that the two young women had lost their families to the horrors of war? Was it chance or destiny that they had happened upon one another in their time of grief? Was it chance or destiny that they had lost their humanity?

Still they clung blindly to their beliefs, destroyed in both mind and body, forsaken by all and banished from society, they could only rely on one another, they were one another's destiny.

The kindly saint offered an intoxicating smile to her knight, which only fortified her guardian's convictions; they could not fail now, not while destiny led them along their chosen paths.

The courageous knight held her hands as one in silent prayer, and the swift moment of passing as they parted beget a sublime golden radiation, which materialized into a massive maul, a lengthy weapon resembling a hammer in substance, but the head was shaped lovingly in the pronged form of a cross, a representation of the warrior's faith.

In her other hand the frigid touch of her master, the sixth saint of Umbasa, the last of a dying breed of disciples who still spread the long-dead god's name in prayer. She heaved the petite woman onto her shoulder, and admitted a prayer to her absent deity within her mind, the safety of the woman she treasured.

The duo leapt from a fantastic vantage point among the shadowed lands towering belfry's, landing on target without a hitch to the dusty expanse of ashy rubble below, their arrival was silent and yet held the weight of a domineering foe. The targets they sought stood at their front, slightly taken aback by the abrupt arrival of the ghostly pair.

"Konata Izumi!" The minty-green haired knight beckoned to the de facto leader of the group, crafting confused glances amongst the warriors as they drew their weapons knowingly; apparently it wasn't often they had opponents who spoke to them.

"Uh…last I checked, and you are?" Her query of identification barely left the azure knight before a crackling burst of fire whizzed past her head threateningly, singing her hair slightly and sending her into a comical frenzy of dowsing the carping tuft of flame. "Right, bad guys." Clenching her sword boldly and charging the mysterious duo head on, Konata found the knight at the forefront to be almost inhuman in the art of acrobatic dodging.

A horizontal slice would normally beget a duck or a backwards step, but the lofty woman cleanly launched herself upwards and over the swing then downward again with a duck at the second slashing swipe.

"Would you stand still so I can chop your head off!" Konata's childish suggestion went unheeded, and was instead answered with a crushing ironed boot into the bluenette's taught stomach, sending her soaring back to her cadre of allies in an embarrassing display of defeat.

"Kona-Chan!" Tsukasa cried out as she reached for her downed friend, lifting the dirtied woman to her feet and silently eyeing the aggressive warriors who apparently sought their lives.

Among the chaos only one party stood idly by, the chirpy archer Patty, her face wrought into one of sheer horror, these weren't some random demons seeking blood, she knew them, she could never forget their faces. They were scarred upon her brain in a hellish aneurism; they haunted her dreams every passing night.

Patty turned to the equally silent magician Miyuki at her side, her features just as fear-ridden, the mage offered her a shaky glance at her staring, and it was then Patty knew everything she needed to, her fuming thoughts were silenced with but a single look from the cautious mage.

Misao chuckled lightly as she eyed the pair. "Well, well, what have we here? A few more aware souls, eh?" Misao brashly called out to the duo, readying her spear and bayoneting it towards her enemies. "What is your business here-" The slave's line of questioning was cut short by a brutish and entirely unnecessary shove from Konata, who pressed herself to the group's front once more and readied her blade.

"Quit stealing my lines, Misakichi! Who are you, what is your business here?" The azure knight demanded superciliously in the most self absorbed manner possible, sneering wildly when Misao's groans of despair sounded behind her.

The mint-haired knight cocked her head slightly in thought at the question. "Our business here…? No, it is we who ask you this, Izumi. Our business is to preserve this world, to perceive the evils of this land and douse the flames that coddle them. We are the protectors of all that is good, the destroyers of all that is evil; we are the arbiters of destiny." The knight consciously explained, jutting an hostile finger to the group of adventurer's, the pair's resolve slightly faltering when the only response ushered was an animated laugh from the assemblage's strange leader.

"How damn cool! So you guys are like super heroes or something? Vanquishing the injustices of the world, protecting the lame and feeble, I can respect that as a fellow super hero." Konata excitably praised, her juvenile fantasies coming to life as she came face to face with those who apparently aspired to be just as she, a valiant hero.

Miyuki couldn't stay the nervous laugh as she approached her addled friend. "Um, Izumi-San…I don't believe they're super heroes." The mage pointed out rather obviously, to which her ditzy ally could only deride slightly with a humming snicker.

"Really…?" Konata asked as she surveyed the two strange figures, analyzing their oddly fitted appearances with harsh detail.

One stood tall, her cyan eyes half-lidded and tired looking, her choppy shoulder-length hair made her look a little androgynous by contrast to her partner, and yet the soft rise of very lacking breasts signified the figure as female. Her petite body was molded tightly in a thin-chain mail from the neck down, with an opaquely colored coat of arms sewn over the metal, embroidered with a crimson cross draped with roses, likely signifying some cherished religion.

Her companion was diminutive by comparison, emaciated and strikingly thin beyond belief, her eyes held a gentle green, covered ever so slightly by her messy salmon-hued mane carefully tied into a duo of lanky and tiny pigtails. Her undeveloped form was shadowed by a snow white robe which tumbled down the entirety of her body, scraping across the dirt and muddying it wherever she stood. Across her forehead was clasped an ornate piece of jewelry, sharing similarities in embroidery with the knight's coat of arms, a cross blanketed in thorny roses.

Konata contemplated their appearance for a moment before erasing the silence with a shuddering gasp of her own. "I got it, they're circus clowns, why else would they be dressed like that?" Her hastily made rude comment ended with a crushing slap to the back of her head from Misao; it's almost as if the wily little bluenette was doing this on purpose.

"C-Clowns…? How dare you insult my lady you…you wretch!" The knight's stoic demeanor was washed away by the turbulent turn the conversation took, a repetitious cycle of childish insults.

The notion of continued verbal retaliation set the so far humble saint somewhat on edge, she couldn't help it when her gentle voice cracked into a brutish harrumphing gargle to alert everyone the time for foolishness was over.

"Calm, knight of Garland, calm…" The saint ordered, turning her attention back towards the adventurer's once more, particularly their leader. "Izumi-San, my name is Yutaka Kobayakawa, sixth saint of Umbasa, and this is my guardian of the clan Garland, Minami Iwasaki. We have come to bestow upon you our will, the will of this world." Plainly the priest spoke, a light tremble escaping her every few words or so, something within seemed to stifle the woman's breathing, she was likely ill, as so many in Boletaria were.

"Well, bestow away, but just do it over there, we're trying to remain aloof." Konata spoke sarcastically, mock-walking past the women only to sense the steel of a weapon turned in her direction, this strange duo didn't seem to have any desire to let them continue.

The priest known as Yutaka coughed roughly once more before continuing."Izumi-San, perhaps I have not made clear our intentions. The will of this world demands that the Old One remain, they cry out for it, for without the great one our world cannot thrive." Yutaka spoke humbly, sickly hacking out a putrid sounding cough before turning her saddened eyes towards the azure knight. "The last of the Monumentals has lied to you, the destruction of Old One cannot come to pass, lest our world undone. Please Izumi-San, I beg of you, lay down your arms and leave this sanctuary of the damned in peace…I do not wish to harm you." Her motives were spoken emotionally and clearly, Konata perceived them and considered them.

Defiance towards her goal was all that passed into Konata's brain, a blockade attempting to dissuade her from her journey. Could it be true that the Monumental had lied to them, could it truly be trusted? It was a demon after all, perhaps it was attempting to trick the group into doing its bidding, and yet, somehow Konata thought this to be untrue. The duo before her gave little reasoning towards their argument, only to simply lay down and forfeit without an explanation.

Did she trust an archaic demon older than time itself, or a pair of crusaders fighting in the name of a god's love? If she had to pick, neither, she'd rather both of them mind their own business and fight their own battles and just leave her out of everything.

She didn't come to Boletaria to save the world; she didn't come to raise her sword for anyone's flag, for any deity, or for any goal. She came to save her missing father, and she intended to do just that. It wasn't the Monumental's pleas of world salvation that convinced her, it wasn't the daunting adventure before her she always dreamed of having that convinced her, it was her father.

If he had never left to this hellish kingdom, if he had never disappeared with that blind woman, she never would've been savvy to the troubles of the world in the first place. Her father had the upmost confidence in whatever the blinded maiden and the Monumental were up to, he gave up everything in the pursuit of following these inhuman individuals into Boletaria, land of demons, the baneful kingdom. And among all the voices clamoring for her aid, for her defeat, or for anything, only one of them rung true in her mind.

"Sorry, but…my father made it pretty clear to me what's best for Boletaria, what's best for our world. I trust my dad; he wouldn't lead our world astray, not for any reason." Konata began valiantly, tearing her scraping blade from its scabbard and turning the cool metal tip towards the duo of crusaders. "The Old One has to die." Her answer was absolute, it left no room for argument and both she and the amiable saint knew this, their stare down ended with a muffled sigh leaving the latter.

"I'm dearly sorry you feel this way..." The saint whispered, seemingly genuinely distraught at her enemies answer, and yet she knew continued discussion on the topic was fruitless. "Minami-Chan." Her upsetting order came without warning, the grossly over-sized maul clung within the knight's hands swung brutishly in Konata's direction, a quick back step saved her from losing just about everything in one fell slash, a direct hit from a weapon that size and there would be no second chances.

"And I'm sorry too; it's a shame I have to tear apart such a cute couple, literally." Konata sentimentally cheeked, charging the knight head on and crushing her blade onto the girl's shoulder. Her eyes widened fiercely at the surprisingly thick armor, and shut just as fast when a vicious knee placed itself in her gullet, toppling her to the ground in a heaving splatter of saliva.

A duet of soaring arrows suddenly planted themselves into Minami's raised shoulders as she prepared to crush the bluenette into the dust, followed by a piercing jab from an unseen spear that carved cleanly into the woman's armor to the pasty flesh within. Misao gripped her spear confusedly when a sudden buck rattled her attacking form, and before she knew it she had been tossed effortlessly to the ground, her spear soon followed, clinking and clanging next to her just as abysmally embarrassed as she at the sudden defeat.

"What the hell?" Misao breathed to herself, noticing that the combined efforts of all of their attacks hadn't lay a single scratch upon the beautifully crafted armor of the mysterious knight, the crumbling hole beget from her spear had vanished, it was as if she hadn't even made the attack in the first place.

"You cannot harm me." Minami revealed, tearing the failed arrows from her shoulder and eyeing the women around her, faces melted in horror and courage wailing. "I am un-death; your mortal powers are useless against me!" The knight exploded in a rage, grasping the still downed Konata in her crushing fist and lifting the woman clear off her feet and into the air, gasping and fighting for breath.

"Izumi-San!" Miyuki called out from a distance, launching a fiery essence from her palms vainly, gritting her teeth when the dainty priestess countered with a lush flame of her own, successfully shorting both attacks out completely.

"Oh, come on Miyuki…!" Konata complained between masked chokes, kicking her legs furiously against her tormentor to rid herself of the iron grip to no avail.

The knight's fierce form was suddenly collapsed upon heavily by a crying and desperate Tsukasa, who gripped her lanky arms around the neck of the assailing woman and tried desperately to squeeze the woman's breath from her throat as she did effortlessly to her friend, another vain attempt.

A gusting wind suddenly erupted around the immediate area in the shape of an orb, ejecting Tsukasa from her hold and sending her flying backwards, crushing to the ground in a heap of painful sobs and grunts.

"Hurting Tsukasa was your last mistake…!" The azure knight gritted out in between hastily made breaths, squeezing her blooded fingers around the knight's fist and crunching her own hold around the woman to steady herself. Once her body was ridged, she began to undulate it slightly, arcing herself in a swinging motion and hurling her flailing legs around the woman's shoulders, collecting her in a powerful headlock.

A heaving yank successfully toppled the twosome downward, collapsing them to the dirt, both parties still steadily gripping themselves around one another's pulsating throats, a test of resolve and fortitude.

In Konata's blistering vision she suddenly eyed the reappearance of Misao, spear in hand, swinging the weapon at the bumbling priestess, she certainly wasn't as physically conditioned as her dear knight it seemed.

The slave's distraction had worked just as planned, she knew the caring knight wouldn't be able to last long when her partner was in mortal danger, and without a second thought Minami unclasped her hand around the convulsing neck of her victim and charged headlong at the spear-woman, vertically swinging her massive maul and brushing aside the swirling dust of the dirt in a foggy cloud around them.

Suddenly the demonic maul exploded from the obscured area, crushing into Misao's stomach and pinning her to the ground, an agonizing streak of tears slipped from her eyes as she blunt end of the weapon crushed her rib cage downward, one by one she felt her organs pop under the immense pressure of the weapon, and yet the debilitating pain she felt would be as nothing before the pain of her resurrection.

"Stay away from her!" The knight commanded, but instead of sounding threatening it came across as painfully desperate, whatever connection the two women shared it was apparently strong beyond belief.

Misao snickered in a mocking tone as the dust cleared around the two, suddenly standing and healthy, bereft of the crippling injuries the knight had placed upon her, suffice it to say, even the undead knight was marginally shocked.

"Sorry, you're not the only one who doesn't fear death." Misao revealed proudly, her steely eyes holding the confused knight's for just as long as was needed, somehow she knew the bluenette would catch on.

Minami had no time to react, a vicious sword thrust suddenly exploded from her chest, piercing any lingering organs within the vicinity and splitting them vertically. Konata held her blade as securely as possible, squeezing her tiny form around the knight's much larger one in a bear hug, it only took the captured crusader a fleeting moment to realize the azure knight was simply another distraction.

"M-Miyuki now!" Konata screeched out as a crushing armored elbow knocked the sense right out of her, the ringing within her ears almost made her lose consciousness from the alarming sting.

Miyuki faltered for a moment, raising her quivering hands to assist in the destruction of these seemingly random demons, but she knew better, creatures such as these couldn't be killed by swords or magic, such evils required tools of a more inhuman nature.

"It is you!" A heated voice called out to the duo of demons, who even in the disordered battlefield singled out the shrill voice. All eyes fell on the until this moment, completely silent Patricia, her warm face was leaking with merciless tears, she was breaking down in every sense of the word, body shaking like a leaf on a tree, so deep in anguish she knew she could only laugh.

Patty checked her goliath blade upon the ground once before hurling it onto her shoulder, attempting to wipe away the profuse tears to no avail.

"It's you…both of you! Yutaka, Minami…it's me, Patricia." The voice of a woman was no more, what sounded was nothing more than a child, weak and defenseless, torn in every sense of the word.

Konata couldn't help but cough nervously; cautiously eyeing Patty as she casually approached the dangerous duo. "Uh…Patty-Chan?" The split second of hesitation was all Minami needed to tear the clingy blade from her torso and send both it and its bearer flying aimless into some unseen wall, and while the majority of the group ran to their dear friend's aide, Patricia found she didn't have the will.

"You guys it's…oh, but it's been so long. I'll bet you don't even remember me." The frighteningly serious archer began, approaching the crusaders with a warm grin akin to a caring mother. The gentile essence of her face was washed away with a single bubbly hiccup of grief that spewed callously from the archer's throat, what remained was nothing less than a glare of murderous intent. "But I remember you." A whisper crusted with dying sobs, what followed could only be described as a horrifying moan, an agony-afflicted cry to the heavens, the woman's petite form shook violently at the brutish call.

Her anger was not fully extended towards the pair of crusaders however; a lingering eye transfixed itself upon the magician, Miyuki Takara, just as harshly.

"And I remember you too, I knew you were lying! You all ruined my life…" Her voice cracked harshly at the arrival of more steamy tears, her mind was failing, her subconscious became her conscious self, all the pain and distress assailing her heart at that moment expunged to the very brim, she couldn't contain her rage any longer.

Patty shook her head in aimless disbelief; she twirled herself around like a ballerina, eyes to the sky hoping for some measure of sanity within her fractured mind.

"But none of you even remember me, nobody remembers me, because nobody was alive to remember me." Patty began nostalgically, allowing her shattered memories to return once more, if they didn't remember her, she would make them remember.

* * *

"Come live with me and be my love, and we will all the pleasures prove, that hills and valleys, dale and field, and all the craggy mountains yield." The mother sang delightfully to her child, waning the rambunctious youth slowly into a sleepy slumber.

The young Patricia snuggled herself knowingly under her cloth covering, rubbing her play-hardy skin gently to warm it from the bristling night air, it was times such as these she wished the cruel grip of poverty would relinquish her backward town from its steady hold, she would do anything to improve their harsh lives even moderately.

The breathtakingly beautiful mother leaned down warmly, softly placing a tender kiss on the child's head, it gave the young one goose bumps, she always relished the tingly feel of her mother's kisses.

"Sleep well young one." The mother hushed bravely, knowing her offspring would dream just as drearily as all nights, cold and wet, begging for some measure of warmth, and yet she knew the innocent mind of her child wouldn't falter, for as long as she was with those she loved this was warmth enough.

Restlessly the young Patricia lay, excitedly awaiting the arrival of her childhood companions. While it was dangerous to roam at night, the child had a strong taste for adventure, especially when it came to the modern myths of her world.

A now faceless child from her past had told her the legend of a sword, wrought in stone and smelted in the fires of the earth's core itself, a sword of wishes. It was supposedly carved from the hide of the mystical Dragon God, a demon of unfathomable power, whose very skin was lathered in a stony coat.

And what luck had she, for the assistance of a local tome alerted the youth to the entrance of a hallowed cave in the mountainside, which was apparently a run down and abandoned tribute to the god of the drakes. This decrepit tomb would no doubt lead her to the relic she sought, it had to if her town of shambles was to survive.

The dying season had turned the hill, winter was upon them, and they knew they had very few resources, hardly enough to survive the long months of cold. Nor could they seek warmer climate, while the mountains of Boletaria were extremely fertile, they also proved a nigh-inescapable dip of land, where the only way to remove oneself from the canyon was to make the long trek upward and over the sharp peaks.

While normally the village found more than enough food and supplies to survive, something was different this year. The soil was murky and fruitless, the sun did not shine, the rain did not pour, strange weather patterns and a vicious cold was all that plagued the valley, something was amiss in their small northern kingdom.

A knock at her shattered window, to which the girl nearly exploded out of her bedside, childishly giggling and hopping about as she clothed herself for the exciting journey ahead, she would not fail her village, she would have her wishes granted, this she knew.

Covertly the child hopped outside her massive window, feeling the wet grass below her shoeless toes as she snickered towards her playmates, all of their faces innocently smarmy, prepared to be heroes for their entire village; they would be heralded as nothing less surely.

Patty looked to the sky, and for once it was indeed cloudless, expansive and riddled with stars and glossy red and purple nebulas showing far away galaxies, among them she noticed the brightest star in the sky, its azure beauty consuming all light around it, she dubbed this far away light her lucky star, her heavenly guardian.

The trio of children silently made their way from building edge to edge, startling themselves with every passing shadow and clenching their tiny hands over gaping mouths to silence their escape, lest the town guards be savvy and end their adventure prematurely.

In no time at all their village was far behind them, and it was then Patty got the first good look at it from such a distance. The area was highly dangerous, savage beasts lurked in every corner of the mountain, unless accompanied by a guardsman, walking far distances from the village was strictly forbidden.

Patricia sighed contently at the breathtaking sight, as messy and old as their village was, she couldn't help but see the beauty behind the filth. The homes of the village were crafted upon the very canyon walls, supported by the massive timber of mighty trees, hardened with metallic straps. Walkways and bridges connected the floating town, and ladders deepened the town ever downward and upward, connecting the levels of the endless city.

At the ground below the village were the farms, where the harvesting of the lush lands took place, usually perpetually green and lively, even near the wintertime, the area was now a discolored and musty brown, they hadn't had a successful harvest in months, instead relying only on preserves.

The saddening sight did not disquiet her brave little heart however, she would return victorious, her wishes would be granted.

The children's dirtied hands clung harshly to the jagged rocks of the canyon, blistering and bloodying them mercilessly, they forgave the land for its treachery, this was but another test of their resolve, they would have to bleed if they were to claim what they sought.

At first aimlessly, their trek eventually led them to the humble peak of a frosty bluff, where the hardened nature instead carved into a man-made path, overlooking the ancient temple covered in soot and rockslides below, they had discovered it at long last.

The ancient pantheon was completely destroyed by the passing of time, pillars of mighty stone crushed under the unforgiving mountains, eaten away by moss and plants that grew from the very cracks of the temple, thickets of vines hanging loosely around the entrance, blockading it with fresh greens.

The trio of children stepped lightly upon the hallowed grounds, they had to be careful, they knew the area was dangerous and had no intention of alarming any wandering beasts that may have made their home within.

They approached the daunting entrance, exotic and mysterious, they couldn't contain the girlish squeals that erupted from them as they gathered themselves bravely and dashed inside, the interior sights were far less beautiful, haunting was the only word that came to mind for the children.

Dozens of skeletons clinging to blades with dirtied blood, the room was utterly filled with the rotten corpses; it seems that some time ago a great battle had erupted amongst the priests of the forgotten temple.

Carefully they tip-toed over the musky corpses, screeching lightly whenever one of the smelly things brushed up against their naked ankles, or even at the squeaking of the jittery mice skittering to and fro, the place was disgusting, it assaulted the senses with its overbearing smell and horrifying visuals, they wished to be done with its chilling atmosphere as soon as possible.

The group stumbled upon another antechamber beyond the main one, a bubble-like dome present upon the apex, fashioned in a glistening stained glass of assorted ruby and emerald hues, the burdening glow of the moonlight seeping through them, revealing a spiraling staircase slithering downwards.

Patty looked to her chums, and decided it best that she was the first one to begin the descent, a mistake that would haunt her for the remainder of her days.

Even under the weight of her tiny frame the staircase crumbled below her, sending her falling downward, cracking and crunching against the staircase level after level, she could feel the seething pain setting fire to her entire body as she crashed ever downward in a heap of stone and smoke.

Eventually the seemingly endless fall did stop, and wearily the young girl screamed in a bemoaning sorrow, rubbing her bloodied and torn flesh and weeping silently.

"Girls…? Girls…I think, I think my leg is broken I…please get help! Please!" The young Patricia sputtered out in between sobs, hearing the semblance of her friends above receiving her message and vanishing out of sight, rushing to get any help they could for their friend in need.

Shakily she brushed a sweaty palm over her fractured limb, wincing in pain when she felt the bone inside jutting at an awkward angle, it was definitely broken. As young as she was, the girl fought the domineering feeling, she had to remain strong, her friends would return in no time with assistance and she would be rushed to the town doctor, who would mend her wounds.

Time passed, far more time than she had anticipated, and still her friends did not return from seeking aide. She wondered if they themselves had encountered danger, but such troubling thoughts did nothing to keep her mind strong, so she shoveled them aside in favor of a happier one, her mother's enchanting voice.

The child was nowhere near as musically talented as her mother, but she knew the words well enough, it was her favorite song after all, one she held very dear to her heart.

"Come live with me and be my love, and we will all the pleasures prove. That hill and valley, dale and field, and all the craggy mountains yield." She began amidst shuddering sobs and convulsions of pain, the melody shown beautifully in the child's voice, even as she succumbed to the budding ache. "There we will sit upon the rocks, and see the shepherds feed their flocks. By shallow rivers to whose falls, melodious birds sing madrigals." Her voice began to hush into a whisper, she couldn't help it, the severe pain tied to the lullaby exhausted her so, and as her voice trailed off and her eyes fell victim to darkness, she prayed her friends would return in time.

All sleepiness however was washed away by the sudden arrival of an odd sound in the darkness around her; she surveyed the area, down the long tunnel at her side that led deeper into the underground chambers, and still it continued, rhythmic and soothing, a steady beat.

The frightened girl thought the priory abandoned, and yet here came signs of life from the shadowed corridors, barely illuminated by the glow of the moon above.

From the emptiness emerged a pair of figures, their faces hidden by the hoods draped lavishly around them, and yet their appearances were perceived as human to the child, she couldn't help but laugh contently and reach out to them with a weakened hand.

"Please help me…my leg is broken, and my friends haven't come back to help me…please help me." The young Patty cried out for assistance, smiling further when the two hooded figures amiably beset upon her broken form and in a motherly fashion, rubbing a hand across the girls wounds.

"Fractured femur, patella caved in, internal bleeding in the abdominal cavity, two broken ribs, the bleeding will suffocate her lungs." The taller of the two spoke, reaching a hand to unbutton the young girl's shirt to get a better look at the injuries, to which she could only angrily protest.

"H-Hey! What do you think you're doing you pervert!" Patty yelled embarrassedly, staying her rage when she looked down to her torso, splattered with blood and cut to pieces, the pain must've been so severe she had blocked it out in her flighty, agonized mind.

"Poor child, on the cusp of death and yet so brave…" The smaller of the two spoke, pressing her tender palms against the child's heaving torso and breathing deeply.

A fluttering light suddenly enveloped the strange figure's hands, it was soothing in a way, humming gently against the young girl's body, she could feel her insides rearranging themselves as if the pieces were connecting once more, it was like she was being healed at an alarming rate.

Before she knew it she was being steadied to her feet, completely recovered as if her battered body had never been broken in the first place, she was astounded; she couldn't help but wrap her arms lovingly around the hooded figure who had cured her.

"Omigosh! Thank you, thank you so much!" The child cried in her savior's arms, brushing the dainty hood from the woman's head to get a better look at her.

She was young, but her pale features were offset by the furrow of luscious red hair atop her head, and the kindness of her smile. The other figure removed her hood in turn, revealing a cold and emotionless stare, hidden partially behind her minty green locks.

"My name is Patty! My friends and I came down here to find out about the legendary sword of the Dragon God!" The young Patty explained, not noticing the slightly unnerved expressions among the two women at her revelation. "They say its grants wishes, I need to find it so I can save my village from freezing this winter, we don't have any food. I heard this place was where people worshipped him, I was gonna look for clues when…well, I fell." The child continued, suddenly coming to the conclusion that there shouldn't have been anybody within the temple walls. "Hmm, who are you guys anyway? Do you live here? I thought this place was abandoned." She asked to the strangers hopefully, childishly excited by their ambiguous ways, they were something akin to heroes of old.

"A sword of wishes, you say? Truly fascinating. And we child, are crusaders of Umbasa, teachers of the old ways and observers of destiny." The shorter figure answered, leaning a hand towards her guardian in praise. "She is Minami Iwasaki of clan Garland, and I, the sixth saint of Umbasa Yutaka Kobayakawa." The saint introduced humbly, yet she was slightly deterred when the child below her erupted into a gale laughter.

"Haha! You guys sure talk funny, are you from another land?" The inquisitive child asked, to which it seemed the pair had to think about the question before answering, why wouldn't they know where there home was?

"Something akin to another land, yes, we once lived here…with you humans, but have long sense shed our humanity." The priest solemnly explained, feeling the hold of her knight upon her shoulder for relief. "Nevertheless, child, this is a dangerous place, you should not play here…legends such as those concerning demons should be left to their devices, forsaken." Her warnings were stern and absolute, but Patricia knew she could not be swayed now; her mind had been made up long ago.

She watched as once again, by the power of some mysterious light, the maiden was able to reconstruct the shattered stairway that spiraled above ground once more, the two figures said their farewells to the child and vanished out of sight, leaving her with but a warning and nothing more.

Patty glanced back at the endless hallway, sneering haughtily as she advanced down it ignorant to the duo's whims, she did thank them for rescuing her, but she had no time to lose if she were to save her village, she needed to find that blade of the gods.

Stutteringly she walked down the hall, still amazed her destroyed limbs were moving like new, she almost forgot how to walk, holding the slick walls for support as she ventured deeper.

Eventually she reached what must've been the main chamber, vibrant and expansive, draped in crimson carpets and lavished with a golden finish, it was a place that existed only in fairy tales. The room was dimly lit by torches, and laden with thick books and tomes in large stacks, the girl couldn't help but wonder what they were for.

Her eyes fell upon a great tapestry sewn across the walls, detailing some ancient prophecy of the Dragon God's cult, showing the beast's birth, and death, at the hands of a soul who would one day claim the sword for their own. The girl ran her hand coolly across the silken pictures, baring her gaze directly upon an epitaph of sorts, written in a language she oddly enough understood.

"Have you heard the jolly tale, of knights with swords, hardened in mail, who searched high and low and near and far, for their very own lucky star. Some found riches, some found fame, some found love and others vain. But what they sought most still eluded, it riddled their minds, made them secluded. A sword of wishes, wrought in stone, a lucky star of their very own." The child read carefully, struggling on some of the larger words and forcing herself to spell them out syllable by syllable. "Deep within the crusted Earth, lay an ancient city since the planet's birth. Here he loomed, the God of drakes, his sinned existence mankind's mistake. Sealed away from the earth above, the wishful sword granted god's love. Gone forever in a flash of awe, the sword was hidden in the dragon's maw." She finished, curling a finger to her chin in slight confusion, and yet she was enraptured by the poem, it seemed to take hold of her in an almost unnatural way.

It was a clue as good as any, and so the child reached for her hidden knife in her pockets to slice the bit of the tapestry from its hold, wrapping it carefully as to not destroy it further, and safely tucking it away.

"Bingo." Patty peeped boisterously, only to quickly lose her resolve when the trembling growl of some unseen creature loomed not far behind her.

She turned to face it, tiny fruit knife in hand, her entire body shuddering in fear as she beheld a monstrous wolf, its fangs bared threateningly at the prey who would dare to invade its home. She swung her blade at it, but the beast did not falter, it stood calm and waited for the moment the child would lose her cool.

Which happened in mere moments, a shrieking cry echoed throughout the tomb as the young Patty dropped her weapon and dashed for the door, hearing the galloping of the wolfs padded feet behind her, she couldn't help but fizzle out a few salty tears in response, somehow she anticipated something such as this.

"Help!" She cried to the nothingness, hoping that any miracle would save her at that moment. "Y-Yutaka! Minami, help!" She exploded once more, finally reaching the staircase and beginning her hasty trek to the top, the lupine aggressor still hot on her heels.

Astoundingly the girl reached the top of the stairs, bolting out of the temple in a panic as the beast converged upon her, she knew she couldn't outrun it, her legs failed her as she reached the outside world, the moonlight viciously beat upon her sweated form.

"Help…please help…" The girl whispered, her chest aflame with exhaust and her body quaking with it just as harshly, she watched as the snarling animal stepped over her, ready to finish its prey with one snapping bite.

She awaited the end, only to feel the release of a howling wind cool her warmed body, and the soft fur of the beast no longer rubbing against her skin, she watched astounded as the wolf was lifted into the air seemingly impossibly, and without reason. The monster was flung viciously against a wall, a snapping sound was heard, and that was all it took for the animal to moan in pain and skitter away in defeat, perhaps it sensed something the young girl could not, but she would never be certain.

Patricia stood and soundly looked about for her saviors, but found that nobody was around, just her and the symphony of crickets that ticked endlessly, and the cutting breeze in the air, howling like the injured wolf.

She stood silently a moment before the coil of a smile formed upon her face, and she looked to the endless peaks of the mountain tops, eyes shut in silent prayer. "Thank you Yutaka, Minami…" She whispered before departing, knowing full well who had been her rescuers from the beast.

The thoughts of whether or not she would meet the two strange souls again, or even who they were quickly faded from her mind as she quietly journeyed back to her hometown, the scroll of the Dragon God cupped tightly within her hands, she knew everything was about to change for her, not only would her people have enough food to survive the long winter, they'd have enough food to survive a lifetime, and more.

She would make sure all those she loved and cared for were set for life in every way possible, they would eat the most exquisite exotic foods, adorned upon tables of garnet silk, sitting next to roaring fireplaces within magnificently crafted mansions. They would live the good life, and she would be the hero who ushered in this new age of peace, and while the young Patty wasn't entirely so self-absorbed, she couldn't help but snicker at the notion of being hailed a hero.

The girl merged into the shadows of her town once more, barely managing to elude a few nosy guards before she made it safely to her home once more, the sun had just begun to crest over the horizon, and she couldn't wait to tell her friends of the journey she had within the temple, wherever they were. It was odd that they didn't return for her, but it would be a question for another time, for now the child decided she had earned some well deserved rest.

Her creaky neck had barely graced the fluffy potato-sack pillows of her bed before a booming call for her name sounded from the other room, the voice was her mother's this she knew, and all she could anticipate was anger towards her actions, perhaps her friends had reached her parents after all.

Facing the music was all she could do, and so the sleepy girl made for her den for a scolding, and yet instead she saw the smiling faces of her parents looking down upon her, apparently unaware of their daughter's recent outing.

"Patricia! Glad you're awake my dear, we have guests." Her father spoke affably, offering a seat at their small dining table to his child, who noticed there were indeed several unknown figures presently seated within their home.

One was a beautiful woman, dressed in a long brown overcoat, her magnificent pink hair tightly bobbed slightly around her shoulders; the woman looked as tender as any caring mother ever could be.

Seated adjacent to the ravishing beauty was a child, likely the same age or near enough as the young Patty, she was a spitting image of her mother seated next to her. Her lavender eyes partially glossed over by the giant spectacles upon the bridge of her nose, her pale cheeks were enveloped in a rosy blush, she was trying her best to be brave it seemed, quite the shy child.

Tired though she was, Patricia couldn't help but be ecstatic to meet a new face; she reached her hand out to the young girl before her, crushing it in a friendly handshake.

"Nice to meetcha, I'm Patricia, you can call me Patty." She requested happily, smiling even wider when the reclusive girl offered a return to her steady grip.

"Miyuki Takara." The bashful child introduced, averting her eyes when the adults of the room laughed lovingly at their children's awkward introduction.

"Patricia, why don't you show little Miyuki around town? I'm sure she'd like that." The girl's father suggested, to which his daughter could not protest, she doubted her ability to sleep at all after what had transpired over the night anyway, and she was always up for making new acquaintances.

The two girls departed from the Martin shack silently, Patricia couldn't help but be slightly bothered by her new friend's perpetual quietness, a conversational topic was needed to break the hushing aura about her.

"So…Miyuki, what're you doin' in Yoshimizu? We barely get visitors from outside the valley, just the occasional trader passing through the mountains." Patty inquired, scrunching her face stoically when the only response was an inaudible murmur of whispers; the poor girl was shy to a hardened fault.

"I can't say, it's confidential." She answered as politely as possible, but it came off a little snarkier than she had hoped, and of course she had a hunch it would only make the eccentric girl even more curious.

"Confi-what? Oh come on, you can tell me! I'm great at keeping secrets…mostly, I'd probably only tell one or two people. Are you guy's fugitives? Or traveling adventurers?" Patty excitedly questioned, her mouth running a mile a minute, the diffident meganekko could barely keep up.

"No, no, nothing so exciting! Well…don't tell my mom I told you, alright?" Miyuki smiled contently, curling an extended pinky finger to usher a contract of silence, Patty happily obliged. "Okay, I'm actually here for training in the soul arts, the overseers at my monastery think I'm ready, and while I don't really think I'm suited for this sort of thing…I trust my mother." The magician revealed, happy to get such a thing off her chest, noticing her friend didn't attempt to run away or even seem to be frightened, quite the opposite, it was nice to meet tolerant folks for a change.

Patty rested her rough hands behind her head with a sharp whistle at the bravery of her friend. "Wow, mage training huh? I could never do that, I hear it's really hard." To which neither child could protest, mage trials were indeed rigorous, tests of the mind and body to levels bordering on the extreme, it only added to the sheer audacity the talented young mage had considering she was of such a tender age. "So how are you gonna train here? I don't think there's much in the way of mage-like stuff to train on." Patty asked confusedly, watching the slightly wavering confidence of her shy friend falter once more at the question.

"I…" Miyuki began quietly, inhaling a sharp wind of breath before meeting Patricia's gaze. "I apparently have to befriend a demon. Magicians have strong ties to the netherworld, contracts with demons are common place, I need to find a demon, and forcibly control it." The mage explained, smirking proudly when another sharp whistle escaped her friend.

"Wow! Sounds hard, I've never seen a demon before…not that I'd want to! But I'm sure you'll do fine, you seem like a tough gal Yuki!" Patty pointed out knowingly, while the feeble-acting magician certainly didn't seem demon-wrangling material, just to be able to say she was going to do it at all must've meant she had some mettle hiding in that timid frame.

"Yuki…?" The mage responded to the nickname, not even her own mother saw fit to call her by her nickname, in fact nobody did. In the past several years she had spent in the shadowed temples, not a soul had ever outright attempted to be overly friendly with her, or to make acquaintance with her on a personal level. And yet this bubbly little girl Patricia was being so kind and oddly enough, interested in her and her life, if this is what friendship was she certainly wasn't complaining.

The ramblings of youth naively frame time in the shortest of instances, when night fell the two young girls were still babbling away about their greatest fears, their darkest secrets, and their dreams and aspirations.

Peacefully they sat upon a hill overlooking Patricia's unassuming town, taking in everything there was to see and burning it within their retinas, Miyuki after all was leaving upon her journey to become a master in the magical soul arts the following morn, she wanted to memorize every detail concerning her first friend, and every aspect pertaining to her.

While she knew it was wrong of her to think so, Miyuki couldn't help but wish she could just stay in Yoshimizu with her new friend, but what a selfish wish that was. She owed her mother for so much, and while she still wondered if becoming a mage was truly her destiny, she knew in her heart of hearts it's what she would dedicate her entire life to.

"I'll miss you, when I leave tomorrow." Miyuki whispered to her first and only true friend, the painful sting of tears could not be stopped, losing friends was never easy.

Patricia sighed contently, rubbing a soothing hand upon the young mage's shoulder in a comforting rhythm. "Oh, you can always come and visit. We definitely need more visitors anyway; this is the most exciting it's been in this town for a long while." Patty chuckled, her toothy grin only expanding when her laughter infected her friend.

Within the stunning silence of the night, Patricia would always admire her lucky star so high in the sky, gleaming as bright as the great moon itself, and yet this time she could only consider the downtrodden mage, and her hopes and dreams.

Patty stood suddenly, offering a hand to the girl below her and hoisting her upwards. She pointed to the never ending skies, twirling her head at the slight vertigo that overcame her as she clocked her head directly up at them. "You see that star right there, the really big and bright one?" She pointed out, waiting excitedly for the mage to lock onto the far away light to continue. "That's my lucky star, whenever I'm sad or unsure of something I just look at it, and suddenly I know everything will be alright. I swore to myself once that I would become a great adventurer, I swore upon my lucky star…but I think this star has room enough for two." Patty suggested happily, slyly smiling when her magician friend caught on.

"You want me to make a wish upon your star? Doesn't that…break the rules or something?" The mage warned, her friend could only blissfully shrug at the sentiment.

"Break what rules? It's my star, I make the rules! And I say this star has room enough for two wishes." Patty complacently ordered, watching in wonderment as the young Miyuki clasped her hands on cue, raising them to the heavens to usher in a prayer of oath.

"I…" She began tentatively, broadly smiling as she felt the inner power of her dreams fuel her. "I will become a great mage! One that my mother can be proud of, one that will make regular people stop being afraid of us! I will become the kindest mage in all the lands, on all the earth, I will show people not all mages are bad…" Miyuki ended emotionally, feeling yet another steady stream of tears escape her, her friend couldn't help but be confused.

"Oh no, are you sad again?" The young Patty asked worryingly, slightly confused when amidst the sobs came a thundering laughter.

"No…" Miyuki whispered, swiping away the niggling tears wetting her dress. "I'm just so happy…thank you so much Patty-Chan, thank you." The mage humbly thanked, crushing her friend into a tight hug and holding her as if she would fade away.

Patty smiled knowingly, pressing a flattened palm to her friends back and holding her friend to her gently. Their lucky star beamed above them, filled with the children's wishes, to hold and to nurture them and aide the girls in growing into the best they could be.

The clouded hours of sleep fell upon the young Patricia, she had suggested the two just sleep in the field under the starry skies, and when the young girl awoke, she found she was alone. And yet her solitude was not what vexed her, it was the gloomy smoke lazily erupting from her village in the distance, to say she had ran with all her might to the scene was an understatement.

Bodies, smoke, and fire as far as the eye could see. The girl's eyes burned harshly under the intense smog, her tiny lungs gave way to powerful coughs, but through all these assailments this did not stop her from seeing the horror that had destroyed her village, her life.

There she was, the young Miyuki Takara, eyes glowing a horrid yellow and her hands wrapped in a consuming flame that ate away at the structures around her. Behind her stood two figures, one a diminutive salmon-haired maiden, and the other, her brave knight.

* * *

The memories left Patricia as she stood solemnly, the sword of the Dragon God clenched within her fists. All around her were silent, shocked at what they had just heard, and for some, angered.

Minami was the first to lash out in anger. "You know nothing of what you speak, girl! What my lady did for your people was a service! The alternative was far worse I assure you…" The knight cringed slightly at her own words, she was not a woman of hate but one of peace, such harsh tone was unbefitting of someone such as her.

Miyuki's breathing stifled, it became uneven and frighteningly nervous, she clenched a quaking fist to her throbbing chest and reached out a hand in remembrance to the skies above. "I remember now…I…Patty, I remember everything I…Patty you have to understand-" The magician began, an almost animalistic cry of rage interrupting her from the steaming form of Patricia.

"Understand what! I thought you were my friend! You…what did you do, Miyuki…you destroyed my life…you destroyed our dreams! Why did you do it! Why, why, why, why!" Patty exploded unnervingly, clenching a fist to her face to stay the fuming tears. "I didn't deserve this…I was supposed to be a great adventurer! Instead all I can think of is all of you, all day and all night my thoughts are haunted by your faces! How all of you destroyed everything that was ever dear to me…" Patty finished in a whisper, her fervor fading under the immense pressure of the grief that was consuming her, knees buckling weakly at her vibrating frame.

Even the progenitors of the chaos stood silent, the crusaders of Umbasa had no words to say, while it pained them to admit they were in fact the murderers of so many souls. This was not willingly, but regrettably that they had to carry out such tasks; such was the fate of the observers of destiny.

Konata and the others had no words to say, something that did not even involve them had touched them so sharply, they couldn't even begin to understand what was racing through their friends minds, but they knew it was painful.

"You all ruined my life…why couldn't you all have just stayed away? The people of Yoshimizu never hurt anybody, they never did anything wrong…" The archer breathed softly, clenching her sword of the gods brazenly in her hardening grip and glazing her eyes emotionlessly towards the people around her, she knew what had to be done.

A war cry for the ages, a startling bum rush fumbling carelessly at the mage Miyuki before her. Patricia raised her blade to the skies fiercely, roosting adjacent to her lucky star, a series of yells permeated the area as the howling of the blade swung sharply downward.

Revenge was surely a sublime passing.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sorry if I went overboard on Patty's little flashback, but I couldn't help myself. This was by the far the chapter I had the most fun writing yet, which would explain why it's out so quickly after the last, and so long. Continuous chapters incoming, ain't like I've got anything else to do.


	19. The Pact

**Lucky Souls**

* * *

**Chapter 19: The Pact **

There is no deterrent to hate, it festers and broods until a climax is reached, willingly or otherwise. For most, the word hate is too strong to describe the sheer and absolute dislike of somebody, or something. Although for those who willingly channel their hatred into a raw energy, they find that with these seething emotions, they can transfer all of the excess energy towards the architect of their pain relentlessly.

For the lonely Patricia Martin, sole survivor of the Yoshimizu disaster, her power filled her directly because of her hate. She had been patient, six long years of waiting for the moment she would meet those who took everything from her. What would she say to them, how would she feel when she met their hollow gazes? She had expected a plethora of things, a thousand scenarios flashing throughout the years.

At first she tried to move on, but such things rarely work. Placing such overbearing thoughts into her subconscious wasn't what she wished, she didn't want to forget. The smell of the bodies frothing with settling flames, the ash that burned her innocent eyes, the anguished cries of those being cut down by their assailants.

She memorized each detail, she wouldn't allow herself to forget a single seemingly negligent detail about that day. Obsession led to seclusion, isolation quickly led to madness. The markswoman slowly lost herself more and more, day by day she forgot even the simplest things about herself, what her favorite foods were, what she enjoyed doing for fun, the only thing that remained was seeking out that sword, the sword of the Dragon God, the only scrap of memory she could retain within her shattered mind.

The blade was now in her grasp, its unholy power answered to her and nobody else, and she would use the forgotten tool to exact the revenge she had waited so long for, the only aspiration she still clung dearly to.

The goliath sword swung downwards heftily, effectively missing the mage Miyuki Takara. In the archer's grief, she had forgotten how to aim, she rectified her failure with another swing, and another, until a frenzy of tactless slashes flew in every direction, Miyuki easily sidestepped them, they held no strategy, belligerent and numerous only.

"Patricia, please! Listen to me!" The frightened mage called out, hoping that some shred of friendship remained between the two childhood acquaintances, their friendship was not measured by longevity, having only known one another a single day, but Miyuki remembered, she finally recalled after all this time her first true friend.

"No more talking, please!" Patty cried, holding back more bubbling tears as she clenched her blade pitifully. "Every time I hear your voice…all I can think of is our lucky star, our dreams…" She whispered, weakly holding a palm to her throbbing bosom and heaving a wretched sob. "Your dream came true, you're a great mage just like you wanted, a magician your mother could be proud of…but what about me? I didn't accomplish my dream…I didn't become a great adventurer! I lost everything…and it's all your fault!" Patty erupted, raising her magical sword once more in an attempt to end all that vexed her, but an interrupting hand grasped her wrist, stayed her anger.

"Patty-Chan, stop this!" Konata scolded as she wrestled to maintain control of the ballistic woman. "This isn't the way, you don't even know why it happened! You need to calm down!" A vicious thrashing squirmed from Patricia's form at the azure knight's suggestion, snarling teeth and bloodshot eyes, the woman was lost in such a tantrum she didn't even resemble herself, she was an entirely different person.

"I don't need to know why it happened! She killed my family, she killed innocent people for no reason! Why the heck would I need to know why she did it! What's done is done, and she has to pay for it!" Patty reaffirmed, losing her hostile stance with the sudden arrival of a destructive earthquake.

The shadowed temples around them bucked and slanted, collapsing delicately under the stress of the convulsions. Another intruder, a distraction for the meddlesome crusaders, a blockade to the groups blockade, and it came in the behemoth form of a great beast of the sky.

It was none other than Konata's target, the Storm Beast, ruler of the heavens above and ancient monstrosity of the shadowed mountain peaks. The goliath demon ruled her majesty peacefully, never once assaulting the temple or those that lay within, it was renowned as a gentle giant near and far, gracing the skies with its beauty, a living piece of the angelic backdrop of the mountains.

It's size was insurmountable, its inane wingspan had to measure at least a mile long or more. The giant manta-ray flippers flapped lazily, how the enormous creature maintained flight was completely unknowable, but it did so likely with the help of some unnatural aid.

It resembled its brethren, its spawn, very sharply. The body palette of a manta ray of the oceans, albeit maximized to the fullest, covered in spiny tendrils of clingy hairs and lathered in the scaly skin of a reptile, and the pinkish tale of a rodent. The beast's black holes of eyes listlessly brooded half-lidded, as if seemingly awry about some unseen force, it was almost a saddening sight.

Clung to the massive underbelly of the demon was its kin, numbered in the thousands, desperately clinging to their parent for transportation, or perhaps sustenance and safety, it was more likely than not all three.

"The Storm Beast." The sixth saint Yutaka breathed, drearily cupping her knight's shoulder in silent prayer at the mythical monster's arrival, she could sense its pain, the miasma of the Old One seeping callously to the creature's bones, riddling it with the evils of the world ignorant to its humble plight. It did not wish to be a generator of chaos, a soulless puppet, and yet the beast's mind was steadily warped to the point of capricious insanity.

The emotional display below the demon did nothing to dissuade its progress, it saw nothing more than moving targets to be processed for elimination. It heaved back in a developing stance, curling its spine exponentially until its monumental skull arched, and from the gullet of the beast tore a sparkling fury of lightning, cracking against the ground in a devastating fume of calamitous fire that melted all.

The bolts of electricity fell like rain, scorching the ground with their fiery musk and carving the ground to their chaos infused artistry, splitting the lands apart and separating the adventurer's from one another as the earth shook apart hastily.

Miyuki ushered in a magical chant, attempting in vain to silence the crushing noise all around her, no matter how hard she tried she could not find the inner peace required for assistance. She turned to the bluenette and archer at her back, watching in horror as they slipped uncontrollably from their stances and tumbled down the slanted land.

She reached out for them, gripping the two's hands just in time and valiantly struggling to keep them both in her grasp. Her palms beget sweat, and without warning the two flew from her oily hands and fell into the darkness of the crevice, she didn't even think about what she was doing when the mage wordlessly hurled herself into the chasm after them, she prayed her other allies would be safe.

The Storm Beast tore the temples asunder with its might, soaring away into the sky when no signs of life or movement painted flickering shadows underneath the intense flames, all was quiet. With a victorious roar somewhat akin by ear to a bellowing whale of the sea, the manta flew eagerly into the fluffy expanse of clouds below it, vanishing into the obscured temples of the mountains and shielding its sinned existence from the world yet again.

The falling sorceress' form was suddenly engulfed in a radiance of fire as she tumbled helplessly, but knowingly she knew what would come next. Her quaking palms gripped her friends, and she squeezed them affectionately, allowing the masses of cold flames to consume their forms as well, they would not be harmed however. The fire was special, it was a spell of the soul and consumed a raw amount of inhuman energy, vigor the magician did not possess.

Siphoning it from the vessels of her allies was the only option, she tugged slightly upon their wrists, shuddering distastefully when their hollers of pain sounded, she knew the process was excruciating, but she wouldn't allow them to die, she outright refused it.

An encompassing star of burning fire exploded all around the three, wrapping them within its harmless caress and slipping their minds into an inescapable slumber. Miyuki was taught by her predecessors never to use the soul arts unless entirely necessary, and now was that time, if this didn't save them nothing would.

The thoughtful mage recalled a time when her body was not collapsed underneath the heavy weight of another's soul, the abducted ethereal energy of maddened men, forcefully beset upon them or otherwise. It had taken her so long to remember, many years of ignorant thoughts passing over a time of turmoil, how had she forgotten? She scratched her brain for an answer, and it came to her a moment too late, her mind fell victim to the forced sleep just as her allies, but the memories within still called to her.

* * *

"Oh my dear little Miyuki, I'm so proud of you." Her mother had told her, face as bewitching ever, lips curved buoyantly at the notion her only child would undergo such a special trial, she knew her daughter was capable of great things from the very beginning.

The young Miyuki wearily forced a lazy smile, saddened eyes beholding her mother weeping in joy, such a sight she knew she could not deny. She would have to undergo the trial herself, her mother's aid would mean immediate failure. To befriend a demon wasn't only a test of will, but a test of belief in one's own strength, for if she didn't even believe in her own power she would surely fail.

Miyuki gave a final farewell to her mother, steadily journeying away from the village of Yoshimizu. Her lingering eyes fell upon the frosty bluff where her new friend Patricia and her had made their vow of dreams the past night, she knew the poor girl was probably still asleep, they had after all spent the entire night discussing a deluge of childish things.

Rumors abound of a pair of demons disguising themselves as humans within the depraved valley, so desolate and removed from society, it was the perfect place to draw attention, being the only demon within such a place would whet the appetite of many a groups. The young Miyuki would have to be quick in approaching these demons, many would no doubt be after them.

It was hours before the mage sensed any pulse of life within the grassy mountains, something was definitely running afoul within the area however, she could sense it, the very air protested its chill, the critters of the wood did not skitter.

The curious girl butted her head through a concealing bush at the advent of a voice's call far below, several of them as she noticed. Her eyes fixated upon a duo of shadowed figures, hidden beneath a capes concealment, standing warily next to a group of thug-like individuals brandishing crusty blades.

A heated exchange was apparently taking place between the two, their raised voices shot back and forth, most of the talking was done between the leader of the bandits and the taller of the two hooded figures.

The mage leaned forward a bit too slightly, her tiny palms slipped upon the sloshing mud and sent her tumbling from her seated vantage point, rolling down the hill comically and setting her directly within the view of every sword-bearing individual in the area.

"What the hell?" A bandit cheeked out, and his moment of confusion melted away the faux of tension radiating from the duo of travelers. The taller one tore her gleaming blade away from its sheathe and charged, effortlessly cutting down every one of the criminals before they had the opportunity to reciprocate the aggression.

The swathe of blood and carnage doubled over within the child's fragile body, she relinquished a guzzling fume of her early breakfast upon the ground in a sickly green mess. Her queasiness and horror only intensified when the dead-eyed knight turned her attention upon the child, and silently she glanced to her lady for examination, which she offered delightfully in a humble laugh.

"Child, forgive us. My knight and I were simply traveling when we were beset upon by these ruffians, we did not mean to cause you fear. Umbasa be praised you were not harmed during your fall." The shorter figure spoke kindly, approaching the shivering child and surveying her body for any recent injuries, of which there were none.

The still cautious girl eyed the duo carefully, a red-haired maiden, a cold knight, the descriptions were uncanny to those her overseers had provided for her, these were indeed the two she sought. The golden hue present within the gazes of the two only solidified her worries, her quaky breath shuddered violently, she was sure she would be killed if she didn't present herself carefully.

The child stood solemnly, nervously fixing her appearance and crafting her face into a more or less agreeable smirk. "G-Greetings, I am Miyuki T-Takara of the magician's clan within the shadowed mountains. I'm currently undergoing trials t-to become a full-fledged mage…and I need to befriend a demon…you are d-demons, no?" Her request and presentation were both laughable, she wasn't entirely sure how she was supposed to make peace with the demons in the first place, her teachers had specifically left out that part of the equation for her to figure out on her own.

The knight guardedly looked to her lady for guidance, and yet the saint seemed unafraid of the mage. The duo had been hunted by all manner of warriors and groups across the ages, but mage clans always held the top spot for the most feverish and cruel of these judges of their crimes. Here stood a child of the magicians, early tenured and likely unaware of her people's true purpose within the world, innocent and feeble, they could kill her now and free her of a life of hate and woe.

And yet her lady, even with the silent recognition of danger, showed no quarter in being overly warm to her enemy's child. It took the knight for a moment to catch on, and her face melted into delighted surprise when she realized.

"This child is the one Mephistopheles spoke of? But she's…so young." The knight whispered to the saint, feeling the uneasiness the girls age caused her lady. Their source had told them what needed to be done, seek out the shadowed lands newest prodigy, Miyuki Takara, and harness her raw power for the tasks at hand.

"Better she be young and ignorant..." The saint cringed at her own words, and yet she knew it was the truth. The child would forget what had befallen her in time, best she not understand the mysteries of her people, the true purpose of why she was sent to Yoshimizu valley. Pushing aside her guilt, the priestess knelt to hold the fearful child's hand within her own. "Miyuki-Chan, we are indeed demons. So young and yet so perceptive in the ways of the soul, truly inspiring. You say you have ventured here to befriend a demon? Well, I believe you just have." She spoke alluringly, it was unusual, but the hellish demon didn't remind the young mage of the stories at all.

Her voice was gentle like her mother's, her features were human-esque in nature and strikingly beautiful. These were the ancient beasts of all evil? These were the kin of the damned that plagued the land with their mere existence? Surely the stories must've been exaggerated, these poor creatures seemed nothing akin to the monstrous beasts the young Miyuki had been warned of.

"Well…that was e-easy." The child stuttered out, and alarmingly it surely was. Most children would've accepted the idea of a simple solution, but Miyuki discarded it knowingly. Something was amiss, these women definitely held the aura of a demon based upon what she had been told, but why would they so easily listen to her plight? Mages were, more or less, the hunters of demons. They kept demons in check and protected the populace despite the prejudice they received, their power made them both respected and feared.

"Not all demons conform to concept of evil, we are clear examples of this. We would be happy to assist you with your training, child." The saint revealed, humbly bowing her head to lower herself before her new master, the priest's knight nearly choked in disgust at the sight, but kept her cool regrettably.

The young Miyuki could barely contain her budding excitement, her fear was washed away with a storm of girlish giggles as she affectionately wrapped her arms around the dainty priestess, praising her with all manner of compliments. The mage-in-training was highly wary of her trials at first, but now she was certain that this was what she was meant to be, not all tests would be completed as easy as this one, but under the watchful eyes of her peers she would give no quarter in her quest to become a mage her mother would be proud to know, proud to have raised.

Pride at its peak, the mage led her new servants to a secluded cavern entrance, they wouldn't want any more undesirables intruding upon the ritual. Miyuki unpacked her supplies, chalk for drawing scriptures, a candelabra in tune with a magical nature of sorts, and of course her own blood, delicately poured from a clean cut down the palm of her hand.

"You are very brave." The priestess whispered to her master, and indeed she was, a child harming themselves without fear, boisterously proclaiming a cadre of dangerous demons as her slaves, the courage of human beings was surely the most startling aspect about the creatures.

Miyuki snickered at the woman's generous comment, hiding her budding blush as she scraped the pasty lines of chalk across the ground in puzzling shapes. "Well, I kind of have to be. When you become a mage, they teach you to live life without fear…without a clear mind sorcery can't be done, one must remain stalwart in both body and brain." The clever little girl explained, which of course only made the duo of demons respect her more, the child's intelligence alone was worthy of commendation.

The priestess watched astonishedly as Miyuki's tendered palm, caked with fresh blood, was smeared across the chalky surface of her seal. The pasty substance slithered for a moment, seemingly on its own, before it attached to the lines symmetrically with unusual perfection. It began to glow under the heat of the girls blood, gently humming the arrival of a contract between two souls, an agreement spoken not by words but hearts.

"Alright." Miyuki sounded, taking the two women's hands within her own and clasping the three pairs of limbs together, acknowledging simultaneously just how lifeless the vagabonds felt, missing pulse, pale skin, they surely were demons. "In order to solidify the pact between us, we each have to surrender a portion of ourselves, our souls, as tribute." The child explicated to her slaves, feeling their uneasiness but reassuring them with a bright smile the ritual would go without fault, even for a student the young Miyuki had the upmost confidence in her abilities. She had never performed a spell of this magnitude before, she had no idea how it would go or what would even happen, another detail hidden from her knowledge by the overseers.

"Magic is wrought by blood." The child whispered in a trance, shutting her mind out from the world as she began the ritual that would make all her dreams come true. "Blood, is consumed by the life force." Stoically she continued, even setting the duo of demons on edge, quite the frightening child. "The life force nourishes the soul within me." Her words seemed to give her an unnatural strength, her tiny body steadily vibrated uncontrollably, the seal at their feet beat with a gleaming glow, the windless air fumed a howling gust. "And the soul within me…gives me strength!" She finished expertly, squeezing her body tensely when the pain set in, her very muscles seemed to ache with some air of unnatural pain.

The seal floated mysteriously from the very dirt, held in place by some sickly green aura. Magically it pressed the blood pact wider, until the circular spell constricted itself around the group of vessels, sapping their life energy mercilessly. The three could feel their minds flutter with fatigue, their muscles beat irregularly, and their stingy eyes struggled to remain open. Miyuki couldn't have fathomed that the pain would be this excruciating, it felt as if somebody had crushed her under a large, unyielding stone. Her bones felt as though they were bending past their natural limits, her tongue sucked itself into the bottom of her throat, her nostrils flared with afflicted irritation.

The cavern exploded with a ghostly wail, blinding light converged upon the shadows within and devoured them wholly, engulfing the entire area in the cloud of magical discharge. The student was a student no longer as her consciousness steadily tore free of her body, her petite frame collapsed upon the dirt in a heap of pain. She surrendered her body to the acute feeling of displeasure within her mind, it called to her by name, and she found ignoring it impossible.

Hours later when the young girl awoke she would be unaware of what had happened during or after the ritual. Her mind was absolute in its ignorance of the situation, she couldn't even recall where she was or what had happened before she set out to the depraved valley of Yoshimizu. Her clothing was stained in blood, this she could see, and her hands were carved and deformed with hellish scars of a life hard lived.

She surveyed the area, nothing, a desolate and lifeless expanse of mud and rocks. Her eyes fell upon the mountain of Yoshimizu valley, smoke hung in the air dauntingly, what had happened? Her mother was nowhere to be found, and her young body was weakened with the stress of a battle she couldn't remember. The crimson streaks blending into patterns upon her robe gave her a plethora of nasty ideas however, but she rejected all of them, she was not the type of person who readily engaged in combat of any variety.

Adjacent to the Yoshimizu mountains lay the shadowed temples of her people, she knew this from the characteristic smog circling around their reaches like a perpetual cyclone. She could try and make the epic journey back home, but in her weakened state she'd definitely succumb to her injuries before she reached the base of the mountain.

A firm believer in the calls of destiny, Miyuki knew that nothing was left up to chance. Everything happened for a reason, and if she was meant to die here, alone, in this field of lifeless browned earth, so it would be.

Destiny has a funny way of surprising folks however, the dying little girl wouldn't have believed it when a horse-drawn carriage passed by her that morning, led by a most unusual man. She would come to know him as a dear friend eventually, a parental figure to assist her in her solitude when needed.

Happily the blue-haired man hopped down from his wooden vehicle, scooping up the battered child and tenderly placing her within the seat next to him and another figure. The individual seated next to the dreary Miyuki was young like she, a magnificent mane of azure hair draped over her tiny form, her lips were pursed in an almost feline fashion.

Their heavy and quick voices rung in the young Miyuki's ears as she lost herself to slumber, whatever was going on, the least she could do was thank the divines for their blessing, sending these two eccentric individuals to her, to direct her back upon the aimless path of destiny.

* * *

Miyuki awoke from the magically induced sleep sometime later, her memories behind her and yet fully fresh in her mind. How could she have forgotten such things? Was it a spell cast upon her by that dastardly duo of demons, Yutaka and Minami? The crusaders didn't seem evil, she pondered how, or why they would have reason to do such things.

Brushing aside such thoughts, Miyuki sighed at the sleeping forms of Patricia and Konata beside her, still gripped peacefully by the fatigue the soul-absorption had placed upon them. Teleportation magic was always tricky, one mistake and everyone involved could end up dead, and that was the easy way out.

Patricia's boundless anger had subsided for now, even if the method to cure her madness was a catastrophic attack by a demon, she thanked the gods above the poor girl wouldn't have to suffer through such emotions any longer. Miyuki wondered what had happened in her past at that moment, the ritual with the two demons long ago. She knew she had recognized them somewhere at first glance, but somehow her memory of the events that transpired were completely wiped from her mind.

Had the ritual failed? Did she gain control of the demons as per her masters instructions? Or were the hate-filled archer's words true? Had she destroyed Yoshimizu and all of its inhabitants? Perhaps the crusaders of Umbasa had tricked her somehow, but she couldn't know for sure. All she could do is hope to work things out with Patricia in the mean time, and ask Yutaka and her knight outright when their paths crossed once more, which given the twos mission of justice, it surely would.

* * *

"Tamura, god damn it! I knew I should have killed you when I had the chance!" A voice sounded in the distance, to which the hardy captain could only cock her head at, could she really have stumbled upon her missing kin so easily?

Luck eluded her as usual however, when the only figure to stumble out from the discarded rubble of the shattered temples was a young girl, coal black hair and large spectacles on the bridge of her nose, body cloaked in a lavish magician's robe. The girl squirmed and screamed as she ran, hoisting up her brushing gown as to not trip over it, hiding behind the armored stranger in a fit of cowardice as yet another figure appeared.

The progenitor of the snarling voice, a leather-clad woman with cascading golden locks, her lazy eyes held a fume of murder within.

"Hey, Hiyori Tamura, nice to meet you…say, you look like the brave sort. Keep that woman away from me and I'll pay you, promise!" The child behind her cheeked, praying for any measure of assistance in her asinine quarrel.

"Don't listen to that girl! She's a criminal, and a very dangerous one. I'm Nanako Kuroi, a hired sword that's been contracted to kill her, now stand aside and let me do my job." The assassin commanded furiously, and yet her tone seemed a tad more discouraged than outright angry, the poor hit-woman was on the verge of childish tears.

The captain looked to the cowering girl before her, who mock-begged with her hands in a prayer-clasp, neck shaking deviously, it really was a conundrum, who to trust? A criminal or a murderer, both seemed pretty lax of morals, and as a woman of ethics, she'd rather just haul the both of them away. She held no jurisdiction in Boletaria however, and she didn't come to this forsaken land to do her duty, she came to find her family. However if there was one thing she was taught in disputes such as this, go with your gut, the one with the blade is usually the aggressor.

The chaste commander tore her blade out hastily, curving the brandished sword at the now sweaty and red-faced assassin. "Nanako-Chan, I am captain Yui Narumi of Kasukabe. There is no longer a law in this land, so I cannot carry out judgment as per regulations, but I never ignore somebody in need!" The heroic knight proclaimed, bracing her form with a fulsome grin. "And criminal or no, you do her and yourself a dishonor by not giving her a fair chance in your duel." The captain's featherbrained suggestion accumulated a fair amount of confusion within both aggressive parties, Kuroi especially could hardly contain a choking laughter.

"What are you, a rookie knight or something? Last chance captain, hand over the girl." Kuroi demanded with no room for argument, but if a decade of being a decorated captain of the guard had taught Yui anything, words are wasted on the decided and armed.

A circling crow howling shrilly in the skies above was the tune to start, the two warriors charged without words, letting their swords do the talking in their place. The knight Yui hurled her magnificently crafted blade brutishly, feeling the tug of the immense bastard sword pull her more than she it, getting used to the burdensome blade was proving more difficult than she had imagined.

Kuroi curled her conditioned body backwards easily, having trained herself for bends of limbs and spines at almost inhuman levels, dodging a slow blade like the captain's would come easily to her. Another sliice of Yui's blade crushed downward, cleanly missing the assassin and lodging itself within the ashy dirt. The hit-woman nimbly tip-toed her feather light form onto the blade's girth, arcing her steel boot into a powerful kick that would've cleanly dislocated the knight's jaw if not for a chicken-peck backwards of the neck.

While it pained her to do so, Hiyori knew a distraction when she saw one, even if the brave captain Narumi rescued her from the deadly assassin, it would only be a matter of time until she learned of the court mage's true origins, and then she'd be done for regardless. She collected herself briefly before scurrying off into the first shambled building she saw, thanking both women for their part in her play. She had the information she needed, the dark secret she had come to these forgotten mage lands for.

It was long overdue, and at this point it probably wouldn't make any difference, but she had to correct her mistakes, her sins couldn't go unpunished. The orb of far sight had told her the only thing she needed to know to make amends, King Allant was alive, and she knew just where to find him.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Okay, two things. One, I don't have a god damn computer anymore. Let's just say hilarious antics ensued, beer was spilled in the fan vent of my computer, and the motherboard was fried from the inside out. Luckily I lost virtually nothing, as I keep a mobile hard drive for just such occasions. But in the mean time I'll have to make due writing new chapters with this crappy laptop, but I'll survive because I love you so much, and I enjoy pooping out new chapters of this filth to please you. And two, sorry it's another short chapter, the story is in one of those parts where it feels like one big-ass chapter, and the chapters apart are without point, only together do they feel whole. I'll have to work on that, oh well, until next time I suppose.


	20. Tainted

**Lucky Souls**

* * *

**Chapter 20: Tainted**

The beginning of atonement is the sense of its necessity. For Hiyori Tamura, to say she wished dearly for the absolving of her sins was a highly depreciated illusion. In reality she knew that as much as she begged to be forgiven, her prayers would go unanswered. Her cries for a salvation she did not deserve would never come to pass, and yet the borrowed depression within her continued to be pressed aside forcibly, to give up would be to admit she was not capable of forgiveness.

The panting mage looked to the dirt below her, a muddied puddle bearing a semblance to a soul she knew too well. Her mussed hairline was parted with a bothered sigh; she didn't know how long she could keep running. That assassin Nanako Kuroi wasn't the first blade that aimed to cut her throat, and knowing her abysmal luck it certainly wouldn't be the last.

Years of desperate fleeing for her crimes, most days she wished she could just face the killers swords with open arms, but her conscience would not allow it. It just wasn't her time to die, she had so much left to accomplish, so much good she could do for the world. It wasn't a self-absorbed sense of entitlement of a savior that pushed her, but the benevolent and unknown title of a criminal making amends. When and if she found King Allant, she would set things right, even if the world would only remember her as a terrorist and precursor of destruction, she would recall herself as a soul who earned her long awaited amnesty.

Touching upon the subject of her malevolent crimes, the absent-minded girl realized only now that for whatever reason, she was able to be free of her prison cell within the Latrian towers. Unusual, considering she was fairly positive she hadn't forgiven herself for anything, perhaps she was just a bit more selfish than she anticipated.

Once her self-relating thoughts began to border on egocentric, Hiyori knew she had wasted too much time reflecting aimlessly, that knight Yui could only hold off the expert assassin for so long. Making her way out of the depressing shambles of the temple she found herself, she gazed downward to the clouds below for any hope of escape.

Brown and dusty looking temples roosted upon uglier mountains as far as she could manage to see, that certainly wasn't any form of progress. Far beneath the muck and grime though, she noticed an odd looking structure peaking over the smaller churches, it looked more natural than manmade oddly enough. What remained of the daunting tower was completely overgrown with thriving plant life, a distinct contrary feature to the nigh lifeless mountains.

Where there was plant life, there was surely moisture, where there was moisture there was likely running water. Being upon the craggy cliffs and all, she knew the water would have to let out somewhere, downwards definitely, more likely than not there was likely an irrigation system in the vicinity. Even with the watering plant however, it still begged the question of how the flora survived against the harsh conditions beget from the Old One's miasma, there was definitely something magical at work here.

The section of the land that held the grassy tower was completely cut off from the rest of the temple however, the land carved high above the mountains in a tower-like shape all its own. The base of the stone tower below was hanging haplessly from the cliff side, the littered remains of a bridge could be seen in the area, but now there was absolutely no way to trek across the chasm.

An idea to reach the displaced tower came with the cetacean call of a passing flock of young storm beasts, hovering gently despite the harsh winds of the gusty crags. She wondered how heavy the creatures were, likely quite a contrast to their size she figured. Their bones would have to be hollow to allow flight, but the thick muscles and leather hide definitely weighed them down some, some property of the animals must have been unnatural.

Hiyori's padded feet slipped gingerly to the edge of the drop before her, a good fifty foot drop to the circling demons below. She inhaled profusely, removing her spectacles and carefully hitching them to her robe. She held her hands in silent prayer for the gods she didn't even believe in, she'd need all the help she could scrounge up to make this leap of faith, imaginary or no.

"This is so stupid, I am so stupid." Hiyori muttered to herself, instinctively tensing her body and getting a steady hold of her faculties before she catapulted herself to an untimely death. An indistinct bunny hop set the wheels of her jump in motion, her overbearing robe immediately parachuted around her as she tumbled through the air in circles, futilely attempting to maintain a steady hold of her form and momentum.

She passed the first bundle of demons fruitlessly, quickly fixating on their fluttery brethren far below, the target was big enough but the force would probably still kill her. She clenched her wrist to her mouth, holding it in a pipe-like motion and magically blowing a jet stream of a cooling breeze through the curl of her palms.

The slight interference with her perpetual motion offset her velocity; she crushed delicately to a halt, and then with the grace of a feather swayed easily to her new mount below. When her feet touched upon the scaly back of the creature, she underestimated just how slimy they were, the entire hide was covered in some sickly mess of snot-like substances. Her lax footing gave way, slipping under the belly of the creature and to its rodent tail, which she desperately clung to in hopes of staying on the beast.

The tail's oscillating arch was halted with another magical gust of wind from its passenger, and carefully she climbed back upon the demon's back and carefully crawled upon the slick surface, trying her best not to make the same mistake twice.

Hiyori bubbled brightly as she tugged a gross section of the beast's hairline, yanking it in her destined direction towards the tower with the makeshift reigns.

"This is so awesome, I am so awesome." And indeed another hopeless situation made possible by the ever clever Hiyori. Her flying ride obeyed her orders almost as if in a trance, the creature reacted to a pattern it likely had felt before.

Over the years Hiyori had returned to the shadowed temples many times for a number of reasons, never before had she wondered how the mages were able to travel across the dangerous peaks and crevices of the mountains so safely and quickly, she believed she may have just found the answer. The storm beasts were always renowned as very kind spirits, leaving the consumption of souls, their mindless hunger, to the wild fauna in the area instead of the people that lived within it.

Her hypothesis was all but confirmed when the beast landed safely upon the severed island of the green tower, waiting a moment for its rider to dismount even. Hiyori bucked herself off the back of the beast and affectionately rubbed its pressed in face, beaming with glee when the creature reciprocated her tenderness with a cooing rub to her palm.

Waiting until her sky horse was gone before she politely scrubbed the slime from her hand, Hiyori gazed upon the dauntingly tall structure before her, feeling the droplets of water within the air fog her glasses slightly; this was definitely the correct place to be to escape the reaches that transcended the heavens themselves.

She entered hastily, ignoring the overbearing stench of death that imbued the air as best she could. Just as nigh everywhere else, the stone floors were laden with corpses, yet something struck her about these bodies in contrast with the rotten souls she had encountered thus far. They were fresh, leaky blood still spilled from gaping tears upon sliced throats, jagged bones coated with the juices of the body jutted disproportionately at odd angles, crushed in torsos had not yet had their innards fed upon by the feverish crows and mice.

The tower twirled upward and downward with two separate staircases in a double helix, the ground was damp and slick from the clammy environment, covered with dripping puddles heated by many hearths, giving way to a gentle, simmering fog that clouded the area with heavy mist. The crashing sound of running water echoed from far below, this was her escape route. And yet the trail of fresh corpses traveled upward, and while she wished her curiosity deprived, her conscience would not allow her to abandon a potential survivor, as unlikely as that prospect was.

Circumspectly she tread across the piles of shattered bodies, not so much queasily as respectfully. Corpses did not stun her as they did the common folk, she had seen her share, and regrettably had made a few of her own. The smell of blood was strong, coppery and almost as distinctly overbearing as burning rubber in her mind, and yet she did not find it unpleasant. Death as a whole to her, was an entirely tolerable ordeal, it was a natural cycle and she had been desensitized enough by it for the mangled bodies of strangers to not faze her even a little. Hiyori wondered if this in fact made her less human, she wanted to feel for the deceased; she truly did, and yet something within would not allow her sunny mind to falter. Looking upon the brightest aspects of a tragedy was all she could do, perhaps her own sins really had changed her in this way, her own dealings with the spreading ill fortune warped her sense of disaster.

When she was green even the notion of a single person passing away, a tiny, insignificant spec on the glossy window of the cosmos, affected her dearly. And yet she persevered, matured into a young woman that steeled herself bravely in the face of death, both her own and that of others. Life became routine, a cycle, not something to be highly treasured but preserved meagerly for as long as manageable.

A ghoulish moan broke her séance of appreciation; Hiyori carefully glanced in the generator of the unsettling sounds direction, she saw nothing at first, but quickly noticed a figure slumped injured against the tower walls. A steady pool of blood seeped out from the being, but the wails of pain signified life, this had to be the remnant of the battle she sought.

Cautiously the court mage approached the warrior, hands held openly for a quick spell in case they suddenly attacked. Weakly the figure glanced upward, her golden eyes hidden behind a tangled mess of lilac hair. Her torso was completely split down the middle, bearing her gooey insides for all to see, how she remained conscious at all was questionable, and how she still lived was an even more curious query.

"Help…me…" The girl whispered under the dulcet duo of two voices, one a harshly deepened and echoing one, the other the voice of a young woman. Hiyori saw evidence of demonic transformation, glowing golden eyes, filed nails and teeth, her adolescent skin tugged with wrinkles of an age not yet passed upon her body.

Wordlessly Hiyori surveyed the damage, rib cage was crushed inward, puncturing within the heart and lungs, blood was likely filling the niggling cavities within. The injuries upon her torso were self wrought; easily saw by the blade thick with blood sticking from the girl's stomach, where the amateur disemboweling had ended.

"Poor thing, don't worry it'll be over soon." Hiyori dolefully reassured, something about the sight resonated within her, perhaps it was the girls young age that offset her usual stoic attitude towards death, she couldn't have been much older than herself now that she noticed it. Carefully she reached for a silver necklace upon the girl's breast, clenched within her rigid palm; she gripped the precious jewelry away from the girl and inspected it.

It was a locket crafted in tin plating, formed into the shape of a star, a speckle of golden paint was dabbed into the center, she realized this was a button quickly. Clicking upon it she marveled at the intricately crafted designs within the adornment, lavishly carved in the miniscule shapes of letters within a patterned rosebush. The writing within spelled out the phrase 'My Lucky Stars'. The other half of the necklace's pendant was adorned with three jewels, highly expensive looking, expertly cut and placed within their placeholders with welding. One of them was a deep azure, as dark as the oceans itself. Another was a dainty pink, exquisite and exotic looking. The last was a genial purple, the top of it held a yellow hue blended into the lilac body.

The meanings behind these intricate details eluded Hiyori, but her heart gushed for the poor soul before her, on the brink of death and yet still soberly clinging to her loves, her lucky star. Respectfully she clasped the medallion tightly back within the failing strength of the warrior, hoping she would make peace with herself for her suicidal attempt before the cold hold of death overtook her.

As lax as she was to admit it, the scene pained Hiyori dearly. This was one death she apparently couldn't heartlessly ignore, this child was in pain and she wished only to end the agony. The mage stood silently, carefully placing an open palm over the woman's heart to end her life in an act of mercy, better she die than have to suffer any longer, or worse, surrender to the demonic ailment that plagued her body.

"Find peace, brave soul." She whispered hollowly, beginning to feel the vibrations of concentrated magic at work in her palm. The scratchy feeling lasted for but a moment, interrupted harshly by the twang of a vicious whack to the back of her head, Hiyori nearly exploded in a childish mewling of agony as she fell to the ground in tears.

The assailant proved to be not a demon, but a woman, young and beautiful. Her petite body was blanketed in a snow white gown that clung to her curves snugly, the colorless adornment was offset by her vibrant citrus orange hair, cut long and thin and held in place by a dark hair band clasped over her forehead.

"What did I do to deserve that!" Hiyori cried immaturely, her fuming mind discouraged briefly by the sense of nostalgia that overcame her as she glazed her sights upon the woman, she vaguely resembled a young master of her past, yet she had seen so many faces across the years, this girl must've just had one of those recognizable features that you remembered off-handedly from some unknown town street.

"Sorry!" The woman cried, cresting a wet palm upon Hiyori's burning skull with care. From her hand expunged a radiant lime glow, being a practitioner of the arts herself, she recognized it as healing magic. "But it looked as though you were going to harm this girl, I simply cannot allow this." She warned, more as a suggestive tone than a threat, but her defending of the demonic woman was still odd.

"Uh, you do realize she's…uh, on the fast track to be a shambling husk? Also she's short on…let's see, blood, that's important. And there's a hole the size of a watermelon in her chest." Hiyori reminded hoping to assist in the girl embracing her inner sense of clarity, but her meddling couldn't conform her to the idea of abandoning a soul, no matter how depraved and lost.

"I am aware of her status, but she can still be saved. I am a cleric; I study the healing aspects of magic. I was hiding out here when, well…this girl dropped by." The strangely calm chaplain explained, resting a hand on the grumbling dreg-woman at her feet solemnly. "She quickly told me of her plight, how she had been attacked by a Dregling and caught their dreaded infection. I told her I would assist her, when uh…she told me she had been chased across the bridge by a horde of Dreglings, hot on her trail. She fought very bravely, but ended up cornered and injured. Even after slaying the beasts, the bruises and cuts taxed her terribly, she told me she couldn't handle turning into one of the monstrosities." The clergywoman continued, pressing a finger to the hilt of the blade that scorned the warrior woman's profusely bleeding chest. "Then she impaled herself, I tried desperately to stop her…and since then I've been keeping her steady with my skills, yet this is a short-term cure, she will die very soon without proper medical attention, and of course…the edification of her fractured soul." Her assessment was brisk, and Hiyori had just begun to digest the information before the poor priest began another bubbling tantrum, she really didn't have time for this.

"Look I uh…it's really terrible what happened to this girl but I really have to go. I came here hoping to find an exit from this hell…I actually came to this little island in hopes the water factory would let out down the mountain slopes." Hiyori's selfish words trailed off flatly when the cleric looked to her with drippy puppy dog eyes, the girl was obviously not a fighter, the quest to rid this poor injured woman of her ailment would no doubt kill them both. The more time she frittered away on useless endeavors to save strangers, the more opportunity King Allant had to whisk away on causing destruction and chaos.

"Please." The priest began, clasping her hands in prayer to the busy little magician. "I beg of you, assist me in saving this woman. If you do, I'll lead you to a secret path down the mountains, back on track to whatever it is you need to do before I interrupted…besides, there is no exit here, the wasted water leads to a waterfall down the side of a cliff." The fruitless revelation nearly made Hiyori choke with embarrassment, and her shame was only amplified when she came to an even more obvious epiphany.

"Oh my gosh, why didn't I just ride the stupid storm beast down the mountain? Damn it, son of a sea slug sucking…gah! This is your fault for raising me so nearsightedly mom!" In her not at all forced despair, Hiyori came to with a body heaving sigh, the clergywoman still looked to her for support however despite her foolishness, it was odd she believed so fully in a stranger of indistinguishable competence. "You know what, yeah, I'll help you…if you promise to forget everything you just heard and or saw. And lead me to that secret passage." Hiyori's demands were reasonably fair, the priestess held out a hand for an agreement of hands, meeting her with a slightly mimed smile.

The pleased cleric turned back to the half-dregling on the ground, grasping her hand tightly around the broken handle of the blade in her gut, she was prepared to remove the niggling thing at last. "Once I remove this, she'll be bleeding out indefinitely until…you know. So we'll be on a clock, I'll stay the bleeding as much as I can though." A vicious tug was all it took to remove the weapon, the blade was buried deep but was lubricated enough with the girl's blood to easily slide out, unfortunately along with a grisly splatter of intestinal juices as company.

The two new partners immediately clasped their hands rigorously over the pulsating wound, pressing downwards vainly, Hiyori knew this wasn't going to work for long.

"No choice, I have to cauterize it." She began, feeling the priest brush aside her flaring fingers at the notion.

"No, you can't! She has fractured bones, her lungs are filling up with blood…I still have to heal her but…I just don't have the spell. I came here for uh…well I've been here before, I know they have plenty of magical tomes for this sort of thing; I just need to know the right incantation. Don't worry; the dregling toxin in her veins will keep her from dying too quickly." The cleric reassured once more, concentrating a magical bubble-like shape around the crushed chest cavity, if anything it would keep her ruptured and loose organs from slipping out.

"I've actually been here before too, sort of. I think I know what you're talking about, there used to be this huge library in the center of the temple, probably not there anymore but it's worth a look." Hiyori didn't exactly have the upmost faith in either her own word or the clerical competence of her new ally, or for that matter the status of the temple's library, but she owed both women at least a chance in the matter. Watching as the cleric hoisted the blighted woman upon her shoulders, the recently forgetful mage realized she hadn't even been acquainted with either of her new companions. "The names Hiyori Tamura by the way." Another foolish mistake, day by day she forgot she was a fugitive of just about everyone that held a blade to someone's ideal, another error on her idiotically extensive list.

"M-My name? It's uh…" Hastily the priestess scanned the room for assistance regarding her hidden identity; a basket of assorted and rotten vegetables would have to do. "Carrot." Her voice trembled with erroneousness, lying wasn't her sweet spot obviously.

"Your name is Carrot? Well, nice to meet you…Carrot-Chan. Is that short for something or…?" Hiyori's voice diminished in volume as she trailed off, ambiguous agenda and unknown name, certainly wasn't the best introduction she had ever gone through. Being on the run, and a criminal yourself, you often forget to suspect people Hiyori noticed. Your guilty conscience makes it seem like everyone else is considerate against your own defiled namesake, the condemned can often identify the convicted or those with criminal intent. And while this passively natured, vegetable named individual didn't exactly scream scheming siren, Hiyori couldn't help but shake the feeling of nostalgic mystery about her.

"No…just Carrot." She politely responded with a retracted movement, lifting the downed dreg-woman into her arms and backpacking the girl tightly, innocently ignoring the apprehensive stare she got from the mage and continuing downwards to the aqueducts of the tower.

It seems Hiyori might've been on the right track after all, absence of sense during her Storm Beast drift or no, the basement of the tower was messily infused with a forest of leaky pipes and streams of rushing water that was once processed to be spread across the temple grounds. Hiyori watched as her new companion slinked her body carefully between the pipe works, reaching the other side safely and fiddling with a few unseen buttons, apparently control mechanisms to direct the water flow, which now stopped and allowed the two to cross across several searing hot streams.

"I guess what they say it's true, the only way to lead a Hiyori to water is with carrots." The mage sounded over the raging crash of the pipes, she could practically feel the awkward feeling oozing from her ally as she approached her. "New deal, you forget I said that too, and anything else I say that's arguably stupid." Carrot hastily agreed to the command, letting out a cheerful chuckle as she did so, she was rather enjoying her new friend.

Hiyori watched as several more knobs and switches were twisted and turned, and with them the very walls around them seemed to collapse backwards, revealing a secret passage descending under the earth. The mages of the shadowed lands certainly wished to protect their darkest secrets fastidiously it seemed, she couldn't exact blame them though, some mysteries are better left as just that.

* * *

"Would you stop squirming around! It's hard enough that I have to carry you, and yet you deem it necessary to buck and coo like a hungry newborn?" Although it seemed rather inessential, Misao understood vaguely what was rushing through the anxious mind of Tsukasa, who had regrettably injured her leg during the sudden attack; the perpetrator was unfortunately an inculpable stone.

That massive demon, the Storm Beast, had nearly been the end of them, and it would have been if not for the slave's uncanny reflexes and ability to maintain a cool demeanor in the face of chaos. Misao had reassured her far more sensitive ally that Konata and the others would be alright, in the restless anarchy of the situation the two were only able to displace themselves from the immediate area of catastrophe, and when the smoke cleared they had been dislodged from the expanse of the temples altogether. Instead they found themselves overlooking a broken mountain peak at the shattered remains of the battleground in which they went toe to toe with Umbasa's crusaders, who at the thought of them, Misao noticed were missing as well.

While chronically sarcastic and pessimistic on an average day, the servant couldn't help but be optimistic towards her companions survival, she had seen them survive far worse after all. And while she cared somewhat for their continued existences, the more pressing concern was her assigned task, at which once again she was doing far below acceptable limitations.

She thanked the stars her ever omnipresent master couldn't follow her into the dreaded shadowed lands, whatever magic protected the hidden abbeys were specifically crafted to counter outside intrusions, such as the strange Nexus-binding talismans she and her group used. And while she wasn't being examined for trifling failures by unseen eyes as per usual, she knew this didn't allow her any leeway in protecting her flock, she'd shepherd them up as always and get them back on track to slaying the Storm King, their next demonic target.

"Oh but…what if Yuki-Chan and the others are hurt? I-I mean…we couldn't find them after…oh; I know she wouldn't let anything happen, but I can't help but be worried. And what about Onee-Chan? We still haven't found her…" Tsukasa's grief flooded out in droves, and it didn't appear as though her worrisome behavior would quell any time soon. The grim sky above heralded the inescapable darkness of night that would soon be upon them, made even worse by the consuming fog and blanketed skies, they would be hidden away and bumbling aimlessly within the blackness.

It seemed a good enough time as any to stall their progress for the time being, at least until the safety of the sun beat upon them. It wasn't just the vision issue that worried Misao, she knew that that the darkness held uglier problems, ones with bloodied claws and frothing mouths.

"Yeah, things are certainly looking bleak. But what do you think I'm here for, to spout hilarious, sarcastic quips and look stunning while doing so? Yes, that's exactly why I'm here. But I'm also your guardian, all of yours, and I aim to keep my flock safe and happy, alright?" Misao tenderly began as she set her detached sheep to the ground, waiting until Tsukasa's leg was properly leveraged before she continued. "And I'm not leaving your side until your friends are safe and sound, and you and your kin are consummating in some gross display of sisterly affection, so quit belly achin' and just smile for once in a god dang while alright little Hiiragi? Everything will work out." While her tone was snobby and somewhat overbearing akin to a nagging mother, Tsukasa took her words truly to heart, she knew chronically fearing every moving shadow and obsessively questioning the worst of any given situation wasn't a healthy pass time. Perhaps she did need to learn to lighten up a little, especially if in she'd be spending an extended time in the ever damned kingdom of Boletaria.

Not to mention amongst the group even the craven and indecisive Tsukasa could tell she had her limits, which were even more stunted than her friends, and yet there was no place for taking it slow and easy in Boletaria. The strong adapted and the weak shriveled up and became soul food for the demons, and while she knew where she classified, she surely didn't want to remain in the cowardly category.

Tsukasa watched as the ever stern and strong Misao worked effortlessly, grinding the serrated edge of her spear across the ground in an effort to wrought even the tiniest of flickering flames, she had worked so hard to nurture the group up until this point, and despite her seemingly childish and brazen ways she was wise far beyond her years. Misao was an expert warrior, a tactful survivalist, and a quick thinker, the thoughtful and far less competent Tsukasa envied her greatly for these handy attributes.

She was a homebody, not a warrior, she didn't wish to survive, she simply wished to live. And as for quick thinking, well, even she could admit she wasn't the sharpest, less because of her intelligence, and more because of her amiable and naïve ways. Tsukasa was the way she was because that was all she knew, how to be kind, how to craft up a tasty meal, it was all she had ever known and she never would have anticipated she'd have to learn much more than that.

"Thank you…for protecting us." Tsukasa sounded from the silence, frowning when she whom she addressed presented a seemingly uninterested face, and yet it stuck only for a moment; she knew Misao meant well whether she put on a tough front or not.

"Yeah, well, I-agh!" Misao's half-forced and ginger reciprocation of sappy feelings was interrupted by the spitting fire before her, which had just burned a nasty, blue bruise into the slave's shivering hand. Tsukasa instinctively reached for the afflicted area, only to watch in wonder as the open wound suddenly closed in upon itself, sealing the girls exposed flesh once more magically.

Tsukasa remembered all too well what she had beheld in the cities of the Dragon God, Misao died. She saw her die, she witnessed her friend get blown to pieces no larger than diced fruit, and yet somehow she reformed herself like scattered pieces to a living puzzle. Something was special about this girl, she clearly wasn't human, and when Misao saw the curious look in those prying eyes, she knew the time for secrets was over.

"Look…" Misao began, ashamedly covering her recovering wrist before she continued. "What you saw, a few days ago. I never really meant for any of you to find out about that." Whatever the servant spoke of, it seemed to pain her, the words that escaped her were heavy, and weighed down by remorse.

"What are you…? What I mean to say is, are you human? You look like us…" Tsukasa started as she innocently pressed a finger to Misao's reddening cheeks. "You feel like us, you talk and walk like us, but…you're different." Her curious words were brushed away with her advancing fingers; Misao could only stew silently for a moment before she amassed as much information as she could.

"To be honest, I don't even know. I think I'm human, but I don't really know anything about who I really am." Misao's solemn words were ended with a sigh as she gazed upon her recovered wound, not even a scar lay in the wake of the healing. "I've always been this way…different. I can run faster, jump higher, and there's the whole not being able to die thing, I don't even know where to begin on that subject. It's a real funny thing, living brashly without a fear of death, and yet it feels so…empty, like life has no meaning without an end." Misao's words reminded her of the golden mask of her master, the omnipresent witch. "A long time ago, somebody saved me from uh...doesn't matter. Somebody saved me from a pretty piss poor life, and I owe her everything. I became indebted to her; I became her…slave, sort of. If I help her, she helps me, she says she can help me discover who…or what, I am." The slave ended foolishly, knowing she had divulged far more information than she needed to, were her master aware the punishment would no doubt be without mercy.

"Is she…your master? The one who asked you to protect us and destroy the arch demons?" Tsukasa's question was met with a simple silent nod, and though she had so many questions she wished feverishly to ask, she knew it was not her place to do so.

Knowing the time for bonding was far passed; Misao clapped her hands to terminate the advancing conversation before it bordered on personal, which she dearly wished to avoid. Misao didn't consider herself the best people person around, which was odd because she also deemed herself one that feeds on attention of others. Somehow she believed these girls could, against all odds, destroy the Old One. And she would be right there with them until the end, when the last breaths escaped their quaking bodies, and when their blades sung one last melody of battle to the tune of victory. Yet something within her told her to be wary, to not get attached to these martyrs, she had a feeling that no matter what conclusion their quest reached, it wouldn't be without pain.

* * *

"This is the library of the Shadowed Temples? Cripes, I mean…I've been here my fair share of times, but I never even dreamed of seeing something like this." Hiyori whispered in floundering awe as she beheld the unreal house of knowledge around her.

The place was a boundless sea of books; shelves soaring hundreds of feet upwards, bridges were constructed in every direction piercing from every wall in order to reach the aerial inclined tomes. Here the library stood, under the earth of the temple, hidden away from even the students of the mountains themselves. The overcast moon beget a gentle glow across the masses of books through the partially obstructed hole in the window, it was their only light in the daunting blackness.

The priestess Carrot noticed her companion's wonderment and decided to give a little insight into the stunning beauty of the place. "This is my first time here too, but I've read all about this place. Before they passed, the Monumentals, the original rulers of these lands, deigned to chronicle all the knowledge of the far reaches of the world in its entirety. While they likely never succeeded, this place stands as a testament to that dream." Hiyori was slightly unsettled by the cleric's advanced understanding of the topic, information about the Monumentals or anything regarding them was usually considered foolish myth, or sparse enough to be legendary.

"Hmm, do you think they have any erotica?" Hiyori's repressed question had created an almost unnatural tension, she really had to stop thinking out loud, the cleric nearly gagged at the sentiment.

Carrot detached herself from her ally momentarily, cooling her heated cheeks as she tried her best to ignore any further comments of a synonymous nature coming from the wily mage.

"Heh, can't blame a girl for asking can you?" Sexually charged antics seemed to have a way of attracting danger for the poor Hiyori, a book shelf in the distance toppled like a domino, collapsing into another and another and causing books to clash and explode into fulminations of shredded white snow everywhere.

In the dusty cloud of destroyed knowledge stood a near formless monstrosity, blob like and gluttonous, it held a pair of tiny arms that barely stretched from its expansive, bean-shaped body. The front of the beast suddenly unhinged like a snake's jaw, revealing a massive, puppet like gullet, from which erected a slinky tongue. Its fat belly was caked with the lingering juices of many meals, splattered bestially across its flesh and oddly enough, a bib-like handkerchief around the consuming beast's flabby neck. Crowned upon the demon's head was a royal adornment somewhat resembling a jewel laden tiara, the creature was a lewd personification of a glutton, lavished in the most exquisite foods, dressed in the finest adornments.

Hiyori's mind couldn't help but center on the erotic aspect of the rather phallic looking tongue as it wiggled to and fro, she blushed deeply as she moved herself in front of her less than capable allies.

"Remember when erotic things didn't try to kill you? What is life coming to these days; seriously, if I survive my exploits in Boletaria I swear I'm writing a sultry novel about it when I get back home...ideas for a title?" Hiyori nonchalantly questioned as she clenched her fists with an infusion of radiating magic, thrusting the clingy beams from her form and sending them crushing into the nearby towers of bookshelves, which consecutively fell until they collapsed directly onto the approaching demon. The attack was futile as expected; the blubbery hide of the bean probably took the brunt of the attack anyway.

"Uh…I'm not really good with these types of things, Boletaria Love?" Carrot daintily suggested, it was completely against her moral fibers and character to discuss such deviant topics, but it was also against her to shut someone down for such a childish reason.

"Nah, too simple, a title like that won't sell. How about Lust and Taboo: An Erotica Compendium of a Demonic Nature, no wait, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Hiyori babbled as she answered her own questions before they even formulated, behind her words her body moved robotically, hurling another curling whip of gusting winds in the direction of the bulbous demon, which in her misdirected state of mind were completely off course, destroying more ancient art and forgotten tomes that were no doubt were a king's ransom in money. "How about Lust and Taboo 2: Magical Boogaloo, people love sequels! Why even write the first one when I could advertise for a second one and make bank twice as fast? I'm too smart, I need to copyright everything I just said when I have the chance." Hiyori's irrelevant yakking gave her no time at all to even attempt to dodge the incoming goliath tongue that slithered around her form and lifted her into the air effortlessly.

"Hiyori-Chan!" Carrot squeaked nervously, finally catching the frittering girl's attention, who had only just now realized she was being held upside down by the gluttonous demon at her friend's warning call.

"How the heck did I get here?" Hiyori mumbled with her mind finally coming to grips with the danger this foe presented, the leathery forked tongue of the monster carefully wrapped itself around its preys body, ready to devour the meager sustenance and preserve its insanity.

Unfortunately for the glutton, Hiyori had in no doubt due to her embarrassing behavior, recovered what scraps of mental sobriety she possessed. She curved her body within the gooey flesh of the demon's tongue, easily lubricating herself enough to slide cleanly out of the sticky appendage, plopping to the ground covered from head to toe in saliva.

The snickering mage smeared a glob of the muck from her face and magically encased a small portion of it within a hovering bubble. "I'll need merchandise too, yeah? Souvenirs if you will." She spoke as if she was the most business savvy court magician in the world, which knowing such an obscure title she just may have been.

In her distracted state the glutton took the opportunity to roll its massive body downward in an attempt to annihilate the girl, but she was prepared for it this time. A genuinely childish hop backwards was all it took to sidestep the blubbery pancake of a demon, and here Hiyori noticed a most unusual sight upon the skull of the creature.

Beneath the golden crown, which looking at it more closely she could now tell was constructed of some manner of cheap glass, lay a caved in hole, which shown directly into the creature's brain and even lower, showcasing a surplus of organs and corpses that in no way were naturally supposed to be there.

"Damn, that's one heck of a bald spot. You really should've combed that over before you decided to tango with the best of them." Hiyori's last bit was the harbinger of the word overkill. She clasped her hands onto the mushy hide of the creature, placing them directly over its glaring weak point and discharged a frosty blast of ice magic into the beast's insides, freezing it from within.

The glutton continued squirming devilishly as it succumbed to the ice coursing through its body, systematically shutting down function after function until it could no longer thrash mindlessly, it grew silent suddenly. A shell of ice crusted over the monster, sealing it in a cocoon of icy death while its enduring meals looked on with glee.

Hiyori sneered boisterously as she continued her journey into the ancient library, as though she hadn't just been in mortal danger, Carrot followed suit nervously, still desperately clinging to the dregling on her back.

"Right." Hiyori started as she surveyed the categories of books, shown in signs across their wooden broad ends. "So no time for erotic pursuits, we have to do our part to save this girl, how's she doing by the way?" She asked as she spotted what appeared to be a template directing to tomes of a more magical nature, this seemed an applicable spot to begin their frantic search.

The hall of books they found themselves in by following the simple directions seemed a tad more archaic, it was almost as if it was hidden in the library, for no one to find. A majority of the books were scorched and or rotten, slicked with dusty cobwebs, this did not bode well. Hiyori remained optimistic, shoveling through a few piles of books before she came upon something promising, a golden and white book, stapled with the image of an enigmatic looking tree of thorns.

She pressed through a few of the crusty pages, grumbling when most of them nearly disintegrated at her touch. They detailed a great many things concerning biological, mental, and even spiritual deficiencies and selective cures for them. Common colds, deadly disease and plague, madness beget by any number of instances, it was all written here, and if there was a cure for the dregling disease this was definitely the place to be looking.

"Here it is." Hiyori started, roosting her glasses to the bridge of her nose to erase the gleam of the moonlight within. "Dregling, taken from the word dreg, signifying something without a will. A plague discovered early in the first era of known mankind, wrought from the Old One's miasma, placed upon those who had lost their souls to the spawn of the great one. The carriers of the progenitor illness were unable to spread the disease; it was not contagious back then. Over time it mutated, becoming a contractible virus and became easily spread through simple means like bites or scratches." Hiyori's rambling somewhat set off Carrot, who groaned in despair behind her, it was time to get to the point. "Ah cures, cures…over time the study for a cure has been a main focus of top scientists and mages studying aspects of the Old One and its spawn. After extensive research studies proved that…there is no direct cure, complete termination of the virus is impossible." Hiyori's tone became painful; she could practically feel Carrot's grief resonate behind her.

"So there's nothing we can do? This girl is doomed to die?" Carrot asked in disbelief, pressing next to Hiyori to ensure she had read the text correctly, only to notice the passage continued after where she had stopped. "However, it was found that consuming the soul of another settles the virus to a level where the antibodies are able to maintain it, however this process requires that said host be sacrificed to save the infected one." She finished as she turned to Hiyori with a discouraging glance of assistance, and yet the mage could offer none, it wasn't as if she had any souls to spare aside from her own.

However, to say she knew nothing of the soul arts was false. On the contrary she likely knew far more than anyone in the waking world, having literally written the book on the subject. All hope was not lost, if anybody could assist this woman, she could.

Hiyori considerately took the dregling's hand in her own, cradling it until the girl focused enough energy to meet the magician's gaze.

"What's your name?" She asked quietly as to not force more of a response than was needed. The dregling gasped twice for any breath she could, her consciousness was beginning to fail her once more.

"K…Kagami…" The demon heaved out forcibly, clenching her eyes harshly with pain as she snuggled her face within Carrot's overcoat once more, she felt so cold all of a sudden, she intuitively craved warmth.

"Kagami." Hiyori began as she hatched a most clever idea. Souls were a fascinating aspect as she had discovered in her research, so easily transmutable, and far simpler to manipulate. "You aren't going to die, I've got a plan." The body only needed the life essence of a soul for so long before it began to deteriorate, in that time the host could easily use the prosthetic until a real one came along. It was a short term plan, but it would have to do until a better opportunity presented itself.

If anybody could save this girl, if anybody could show her the ways of the soul arts first hand, it was Hiyori Tamura, the woman accused of crimes beyond her own understanding. After all, everyone deserves a chance at redemption.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I've finally gotten used to typing on this crappy laptop, but good news! I finally ordered the replacement parts I needed for my computer, so I'll be back to writing chapters normally in no time. Oh, and sorry if I tend to jerk around the POV a lot, I'm trying to create the feeling of an ensemble cast, many different paths and stories interweaving until they all reach the same conclusion. Plus it really helps to break up the pacing a little, and easily transport characters to a destination. And if any of you have been romance deprived in this story thus far, stick around; I think you'll be pleased in the near future.


	21. That Old Familiar Feeling

**Lucky Souls**

* * *

**Chapter 21: That Old Familiar Feeling**

"This is wrong, you know it is. How can you justify you living a second longer? You killed people, good people, folks who ain't never done anyone any wrong and who didn't wish ill upon the worst of 'em." A furious tone was the first thing Konata heard when she awoke from her magically induced trance; she struggled to fixate her blurry eyes on the scene and geared into motion when the tension finally overcame her.

She switched to Patricia, corybantic and mumbling to herself like a madwoman, blade angled menacingly at Miyuki, who did nothing but frantically turn to her awakening friend for guidance.

"Patricia…" Konata whispered sleepily, tearing her blade out at turning it on her former ally. "Stop this, please; Miyuki is your friend you know she'd never do the things you accuse her of. Look, we need to find the others; this isn't the time to be at one another's throats. I love a good and dirty girl on girl fight as much as anyone, but this is just stupid and you know it." Konata's reasoning was sound as ignorant to the deeply personal situation as she was, murder was never the answer regardless of the reason, there had to be another way. Even if her morals were arguably flawed in a land of death and destruction, she held them dearly; to do what was right was her way of surviving, of coping with the boundless carnage all around her every waking day.

"You weren't there, Izumi-San." Patricia's anger was all but replaced with a soothing calmness, the blinding fury had passed and presenting it like a trial would be her only hope. "Miyuki killed those people, I saw her do it with my own eyes. We can't let her stay with us, she's dangerous, she knows those crusaders too, the ones that tried to kill us." Without hesitation Konata advanced on the fiery archer, forcefully pushing her backwards with the tip of her blade.

Konata wearily sighed at the hate filled sentiment. "She isn't the one bowing a blade at your throat, Patty-Chan, that's all your doing. We can talk this out like the adults we aren't, or we can sit here and kill each other and let Misakichi and Tsukasa die." The azure knight's words were blunt as usual, but held a heightened aura of maturity to them. Whenever words without sugar coating were required, Konata could easily be the one to announce them, but never in such a grave manner, concerning real issues and life and death problems.

Patty gave off the settling hint of contemplation, a breakthrough if anything, but whatever sense of urgency Konata's words may have planted in her muddied skull, it seemingly made no difference. She didn't go for Miyuki's throat like she might have guessed, instead she seized the moment of agitated silence to book it in the nearest direction she saw fit. Miyuki started after her but was quickly subdued to a halt by the bluenette, who watched as the archer vanished out of sight behind a mess of heaped temples.

"We don't have the time to humor her little chase game, she's tough and in no danger. But Misakichi and Tsukasa are, we need to go." While Konata tried to make her words sound as heartfelt as possible, they came across as undeniably cold. She knew pursuing the confused and frightened Patricia would only turn out ugly for everyone; she needed time to herself to reflect. She had survived six long years traveling the demented reaches of Boletaria, and now that her revenge scheme had presented itself, she knew her search for those that wronged her would need a proper ending.

* * *

"Hahaha, well, that was really the only foreseeable ending though, right? He just wasn't man enough for me I guess, and now unfortunately…he probably won't be man enough for any woman ever again." Kuroi's husky breath was laden with the stench of wine as the dense air of laughter and pity has stained the air.

What drew these two combatants clinging to very different ideals to succumb to the prospect of a friendship? Fortunately for the guard captain Yui, their intense battle over the fate of the magician Hiyori ended almost as soon as the bespectacled runaway disappeared, that was when their sense washed over them and abruptly ended the pointless duel. Kuroi was injured, tired, and ached intensely from days of listening to the perverted little Hiyori's childish words; she needed a break, mission or no.

What better way to ease her troubles than to crack open a crucially selective bottle of wine she had stumbled across, and share it with her new friend. The mage was gone, on her own she'd likely fall victim to the numerous dangers the land held, when the boisterous assassin thought about it, her job was in a way already completed.

"You cut off his…?" Yui nervously asked, her important rescue mission suddenly so repressed into the back of her mind she considered the passionate love affairs of a stranger to be more urgent.

"Yeah, his finances. Robbed him and his kin blind of everything that wasn't nailed down in the villa and pinned it on his excessive gambling addiction, did I tell you he was the playboy son of a local duke? You break my heart; I destroy your good name." Kuroi whined girlishly, knocking back another oily taste of the dusty wine with a saddened sniffle, she couldn't tell if the drink was making her so emotional or she truly felt this way, it was an odd feeling to be so vulnerable.

"Wow, you're cold Nanako-Chan. Sometimes I wish I could be more of a bad ass, but I was born with a heart of silver, or gold, no my armor is silver so that makes more sense." Yui sneered with a slurred chuckle, rubbing a heated stain from her glasses as she began to recall herself before her drunken delusion. "Long time ago I lost somebody very important to me, it was beyond my control but I still feel like it's my fault, you know? Ever since this then I've been making it up to myself by protecting people, it's why I became a guardswoman you know?" Yui's sentimentality cut her deeper than she thought; she brushed away the awkwardness her thoughts ushered with an unnerved chuckle. "Sorry, I must be more drunk than I thought, could've sworn I was supposed to be doing something right now…" The captain scratched her addled brain for some scrap of sobriety; her revelation came in the form of a legion of advancing skeletons that gradually surrounded the drunken warriors.

As articulately as she could manage, the inept assassin Kuroi stood sluggishly and brandished a set of shimmering knives inch by inch between her knuckles. Her blurry vision obscured the advancing dead around her, but even in her diminished stance she was aloof, she had to be efficient in any instance regardless of the state of her mind and body. An inhuman curl of her spine twirled the hit woman like a top, flinging the daggers everywhere and puncturing half of the shambling bones into pieces like pincushions.

"I'm drunk like a minor and I can still manage to hold my liquor and my own in battle, pretty impressive eh?" Kuroi's boasting was cut short with the slimy expunge of a splash of vomit, which she quickly wiped from her dripping lip and shrugged complacently, not even the deadliest warriors could be intimidating all the time.

"Who the heck are you kiddin', Sensei?" A rambunctious call sounded out as the duo of drunks were converged upon by the horde, cutting down as many as they could before they were interrupted by the arrival of an unusual looking tanned woman, twirling spear in hand as she cleared the surrounding area of the few remaining skeletons.

"Misao! You're alive! I thought for sure you would've been dead back when we parted ways a few days ago, how'd that whole Dragon God thing go?" Kuroi stumbled out as she struggled to maintain her balance, failing and collapsing onto the ground with an all but necessary giggle.

"Yeah, all sunshine and daisies in that department." Misao muttered as she turned to ensure Tsukasa was safely sitting on the sidelines, groping her injured leg and limping towards the others. "But I couldn't have run into you at a better time, we've got a problem." The slave uttered warningly, knowing that even in the assassin's drunken stupor she would pick up on the magnitude of the problem.

Usually for the two startling issues were far and few in between, and if they arose, it only involved one thing. A certain witch that guided their blades, and her morals, her problems, and the unwinding twine of her web coming undone, such a thing bode terribly for everybody involved.

"The Izumi kid?" Kuroi whispered as she leaned in, finally feeling the clarity of sobriety taking hold of her as she realized the dangers of the situation. Misao nodded firmly in response, anything regarding Konata Izumi was of the upmost importance to their mutual benefactor, and her status was to remain healthy and happy at all times or else.

Kuroi gingerly rubbed her aching eyes, taking another swig of the tasteless, half full bottle of wine at her feet before she eyed the mountains in the distance, the job never got easier it seemed, and the perks just got more diluted and bitter like the drink in her hand. Hubristically assuring herself about her profession, especially in such times, wasn't what she was paid to do.

If anything were to happen to Konata Izumi, it would come crashing down upon her. Her well lived reputation would be dissolved along with everything she had worked so hard for, and she had no intention of letting her dreams fall with the death of some kid. Controversies such as those held no place in her future, not while she drew the strength to hold a blade.

* * *

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do it…I didn't really wanna die Tsukasa, please believe me. I was just so scared…scared of losing you, and myself, I was a coward." The dregling Kagami whispered under her heavy sobs as the last furls of her humanity were suffocated in her dying mind. Her saviors offered a worried glance to one another; Carrot was the first to rest a steady hand on the warrior's stained and heaving chest in sympathy.

"What is she talking about?" Carrot wondered, her question more in the vein of thinking out loud, but that didn't stop Hiyori from offering her ignorant two cents on the matter.

"No idea. Could be she's in shock, could be she sees us as somebody else right now. But if I had to stroke a guess, I'd say she thinks she's already dead. Let's aim to prove her wrong, alright?" Hiyori assured as she led her companions to the colossal crack in the wall created from the gluttonous demon's rampage, the caved in scenery led in to a series of tunnels circuiting throughout the catacombs underneath the temples, even deeper this time. "On another note, I had no idea this place was so big. I mean, what are all these underground tunnels for anyway? They're pretty well hidden, and to be honest something tells me fat boy back there was here before the fog set in. Whatever's down here, they meant to protect it well." The secrecy of it all was all but completely unknown to Hiyori, her ties to the mages, her people or no, were very thin. She had never considered herself to be a part of their guilds, their cities, practicing and fine tuning their special gifts to forever change their appearance in the eyes of mankind.

And yet she had seen what they did, the terrible things magicians of every era were responsible for. For every young child brought up to treasure the arcane blood flowing in their veins, there was ten more that abused their gifts for self gain. Mages were known for mass murders across the ages, erecting tyrannical empires, euthanizing entire races of people and instilling as much fear into the populace as they could with their otherworldly powers. And of course, who could forget the world devouring demon the Old One, a hellish creature beset upon the world only because it had been released from its eternal prison by none other than mages.

Hiyori sympathized with her people, she truly did, but they were far beyond any redemption as a whole. They had done too much damage as a clan, across the ages smearing their good name with the blood of the innocent; they could never be fully forgiven for their atrocities of hate and destruction. And yet so many mages still blindly clung to the ideal that one day they would be accepted openly once more, not branded as criminals and sentenced to death merely upon sight. It did the young Hiyori no helpful service that she was an international criminal, and worse off, a mage, both aspects of her life would need to be made completely secret if she could manage it.

However she still maintained the awful habit of using her true identity, and openly practicing magic and sharing its secrets with complete strangers, such as this girl Carrot, and the dregling Kagami. She would be better off abandoning both of them; the idea had not just recently dawned upon her either. But she was a kind soul, far too amicable for even her own salted tastes; she wished she could be more assertive instead of laughably naïve.

Perhaps this is what separated her from the majority of her kind, she mused in a conflicted stance, how she wished to better herself based upon her mistakes. She was far more alike to her foolish brethren who sought redemption than she wished to admit, it showed upon her weary form each day, where she selflessly would set aside her goals in favor of helping a complete stranger. She groaned slightly at the sentiment, but she realized that she would more likely than not assist Carrot in saving this injured woman even if she hadn't tantalized her with the location of the exit down the mountainside.

Piece by piece, scrap by scrap, she would restore her shattered humanity, even if she had to assist every nameless soul in the world with every meaningless task they could ever deign to be important.

Her long awaited redemption would wait though, in favor of saving these poor girls from their untimely deliverance to the hells that awaited them if she were to abandon them. The curious group pressed further into the mysterious cavern, observing the man-made tunnels eminently, examining their spiraling shape and linking it in appearance to a burrowing rodent's work.

Hiyori stepped forward into the opening the circling tunnel presented, her glasses shimmering brightly under the intense aura the lake in front of her presented. Its colorless waters glowed a strange milky white, and seemed to be nothing more than mass amounts of secretion beget from the wandering slugs around the room, of which there were many.

The creatures were colossal by insect standards, measuring at least a meter long from head to tail, and possessed almost no defining characteristics other than their immense size. They were slug like in appearance and shape, covered in sickly enzymes and sporting a pair of lanky stalks with eyes. What set them apart besides their abnormal size however, was how they presented themselves, with a luminescent coating.

The torched meal worms hummed distractingly in the darkness, the only lanterns in the consuming blindness all around, slithering to and fro amongst the walls and coating it in their slime.

Stepping to the edge of the drop, Hiyori realized only now that it was at least fifty or sixty feet down, perhaps even more. The intense radiation from the ooze lake seemed to paint out the picture that it was so much closer, and at that moment she wished it was, because within the fluttering light wrought from the slugs, she saw a stone bridge crafted across the chasm without any rails or manageable space to make a safe crossing.

"You know…" Hiyori began grimly, positioning herself in front of the unnatural bridge with a nervous chuckle. "Falling to your death into a pit of demonic slime is probably the most humane end one could get in Boletaria, if we weren't in a hurry I wouldn't mind getting off this crazy ride we call life right here." The magician's amiable tone shifted darkly with her words, even the barely conscious Kagami was somewhat off put by the bleakness of what she spoke of.

"I'm sorry but…did you just make a joke about suicide? That was in poor taste." Carrot reprimanded, even if she couldn't exactly deny the awful truth, there certainly was a multitude of other extravagantly awful ways to go in Boletaria.

Hiyori breathed deeply through her flaring nostrils for a moment before smirking apologetically. "Oh, death's not so bad. No worries, no responsibility, no pain and sorrow…it's a peaceful instance, even if it's only for a fleeting moment." She explained emptily, glossing the doom from her expression with an unnerving chuckle.

Carrot approached her strangely distant companion cautiously, firmly holding a hand to the girls shoulder in case she did the unthinkable. "You speak of death as if you know it well. Hiyori-Chan, are you alright? If you're feeling uneasy we should rest." While the cleric's suggestion was beguiling rest wasn't a luxury they could afford, not while the grievously injured Kagami was in such a dire state.

Hiyori watched the swaying motion of the torch bugs in the darkness, hoping the pendulous rhythm would soothe her aching mind. Perhaps it was the ludicrous amounts of socializing she had been put through as of late that drew such faint feelings of dread within her. In all the years she had spent accidentally immortalizing herself as a terrorist, or locked away in some dank prison, she had forgotten what true human interaction was like.

Purifying conversations with euphemisms was something uncommon to her; she spoke her mind fully regardless of reaction. In her life long ago as a court magician to several very powerful individuals, Hiyori found that sugar coating things instead of saying them outright would often get her in trouble, apparently she inherited the old tendency as well.

"Eh, well." Hiyori began as she examined a safe means of crossing the chasm. "Wherever I go death is always close behind, let's just say that's given the two of us a lot of time to get to know one another." The unusually forlorn mage explained as she engulfed her hand in a searing flame to light the darkness, which did so albeit poorly.

Carrot decided regrettably that would have to be the abrupt ending of the discussion, regardless of her concern for the wily mage's mental health. Every passing moment Kagami's heinous injuries impacted her failing body more and more, she wouldn't last much longer given the circumstances. And since the nature of the girl's affairs was dangerous, haste was the key.

Hiyori tensely knelt to the stone bridge and waved her flaming hand in its direction, illuminating its presence from the dark and revealing their path. The mage went first as to guide their way, stumbling slightly underneath her bulky robe as it dragged behind her, making sure Carrot and the shielded Kagami were alright before she fixated her vision on the other side of the chasm.

The rustle of the insects buzzing carelessly around them only tore their concentration, but Hiyori kept the group's attention with a negligent wave of her torched palm. Her cadenced movements unfortunately attracted the curious legion of slugs, which sprouted strange feathered wings and feverishly began to circle around the magician's palm, hypnotized by its aura. Swatting the flame at them did nothing, they were drawn by its presence regardless of the dangers, they wished only to be ever closer to it.

Hiyori mumbled heatedly to herself before she feverishly waved her hand at the closest insect, infecting it with the parasitic flame within her grasp. The creature wailed painfully before it bumped into another of its brethren, which in turn caused a chain reaction amongst the monsters, lighting up the pitch black cavern in a matter of seconds due to the intense rumblings of fire.

"Oh crap." Hiyori whispered as one of the torch bugs collapsed onto the bridge behind them, crushing completely through the stone with its immense girth and sending the helpless insect tumbling into the abyss.

The fire that clung to the insect now lathered its flames upon the bridge, feeding upon the strangely flammable enzymes the slugs seemed to secrete and consuming the bridge wholly. Hiyori ushered for Carrot to remain close to her as they speedily closed the gap between themselves and the end of the bridge.

Without warning their plan of escape curved disastrously with the sudden arrival of another bulky bug, smashing its wormy hide upon the stone bridge and creating another lengthy gap. The flames now cornered them from both ends, slowly eating away at the remainder of the bridge and sealing their doom.

Hiyori looked for any means of escape, and noticed a diminutive protrusion jutting from the wall, which circled into a depression that led into the very earth, likely it was hidden hive of the slugs. She couldn't wait for Carrot's approval to make the leap however; instead the mage hurled a howling gust of wind in the girl's direction and accurately catapulted both her and the slumbering Kagami directly onto the sledge of land precisely.

And while she heard the cries of protest exploding from Carrot she paid them no heed, instead clapping her hands swiftly and sending surges of fire from them in ring-like shapes, hoping to destroy every aggressive, bloated slug in the area. The puss that fizzled from their melting bodies ravaged the surrounding air in a sticky clouded mess; only further adding concern to whether or not Hiyori would be able to join her companions on the ledge below alive and well.

Her death was all but confirmed when the crumbling bridge around her was suddenly consumed in flames from every side, her own offensive had been her downfall. Her path to Carrot and Kagami was blocked, and she was surrounded by blazing insects hell bent on causing chaos to mete out some menial revenge tactics.

While Hiyori's fear of death was nonexistent, she knew she couldn't die here and now, not while she had so many things left to accomplish. There was a way out of her predicament, this she knew, but doing so would potentially give away her true identity and possibly send her decade long plans into disarray. Carrot was a well enough woman, and could likely be trusted, but the simple fact that she may possess the information regarding Hiyori's identity was dangerous. There were many more lucrative ways certain individuals could extract information, without consent, without even capturing or torturing said person. Magic and the soul arts certainly were very dangerous tools in this way, the damage they had done to the world was irrevocable, and it would surely continue to ruin the lives of good people every day.

Her rambling decision was cut short by the inane pain she felt bending across her leg as the crackling flames set upon her, she had to make a decision and quickly. And while the idea of using such a distasteful means of escape yet again pained her dearly, and even more so because Carrot's insistent selflessness pushed her into this mess, she knew it was too late to just back out of the ordeal now.

As the ravenous fire wrapped itself around her, Hiyori new she had to do everything she could to preserve it. A twirl of icy tendrils exploded from her body, encasing it within a block of solid ice as the bridge around her slowly succumbed to the insects destruction. However, in a time like this, staying true to oneself, in this case literally, wasn't an option.

Hiyori compared the feeling of losing one's soul to vomiting, the entire body heaves and convulses, the pulse quickens and the throat grows desert dry. She had done it so many times throughout the years and still hadn't gotten used to it, it was an out of body experience the likes of which she couldn't fathom, and still didn't fully understand despite the many years she researched the topic.

What she did know however, is how to go about separating the soul from the body, an art completely lost to the majority of mankind, and yet the creator of untold knowledge and power, including creatures like the Old One. Souls are powered by the life force of a being, living or dead; everything that lived required a soul, even non-sentient life forms like plants. A body could still live without a soul, but in a sense would be mindless like the husks that wandered Boletaria, constantly needing to feed upon the souls of others to maintain a biological balance and keep what little brain activity still functioning.

Hiyori could leave her body unattended for a time, but not long enough to allow it to degrade into a Dregling; she needed to be swift in returning to it once the tasks at hand were completed.

That old familiar feeling of nostalgia washed over her as she closed her eyes, feeling the frigid coffin around her slowly plummet into the endless chasm, hopefully she had made the ice tomb hard enough to not shatter instantly, but it was too late to be certain now. Her mind surged with a dull pain once, twice, and then that was it, she was gone.

"Hiyori-Chan!" Carrot called out in a frightened frustration as she watched the block of ice slicked in flames tumble into the darkness below, she was certain Hiyori was caught in the blast, nobody, not even an expert magician could survive those intense flames, let alone the daunting fall.

"Hey, don't sound so glum Carrot-Chan, I haven't gone very far." A seemingly disembodied voice whispered with a giggle from the blackness. It sounded close, almost as if the mage was right behind her, but upon twirling around Carrot saw that this wasn't the case, in fact she didn't appear to be anywhere.

"Hiyori-Chan…? W-Where are you?" Carrot squeakily asked, holding onto the injured Kagami for some measure of comfort, ignoring her groans of pain at the harsh contact.

"I'm here, with you." The hushed voice spoke once more, only offering more vague interpretations and unanswered questions.

Carrot reached to her slightly stinging forehead with her free hand, attempting to grasp the sense of the situation, somehow within the last few minutes she had accumulated a stunningly robust fever. And while she couldn't exactly put her finger on it, being a mage she was more in tune with the world of spirits and their doings, something definitely felt unnatural about her body at that moment.

"But you fell down into the chasm and…how did you get in me? This all sounds very strange but…I feel like I can sense you Hiyori-Chan." Carrot confusedly worked out, trying her best to make the foolish words somehow sound anything less than outlandish, but the irregularity of them did her conventional questioning no justice.

"Soul arts. This is the technique I'm going to try and use to save Kagami-Chan." The voice spoke through her, composing an aria of frightened yelps at the startling possession. When it happened, she had absolutely no control over her movements, it was as if she was a puppet. "I used the hidden soul arts to transfer my soul into your body for safe keeping, until I can retrieve my own now very out of reach shell." The explanation would have to suffice, Carrot knew very little about the soul arts, just that they were extremely dangerous to meddle in. The soul arts in particular were responsible for the coming end of days, the Old One, a criminal act perpetrated by the illustrious good King Allant. Carrot wondered if this mage Hiyori, mastered enough in the ways of the soul to exchange bodies, had any connection to the mastermind of Boletaria's downfall.

"Your body…?" Carrot questioned as she peaked down the blackened shaft, it was far too deep to see the bottom, the status of her ally's fresh corpse was ambiguous. "Are you sure it's alright?" A squeamish groan of doubt escaped from within Carrot's mind, followed by a nervous chuckling, even Hiyori couldn't be sure if her body would be in tact after such a harsh fall.

"We live in hope." Hiyori sighed, forcing Carrot to rub her head sheepishly with the split control she had over the woman's body. "I really didn't have much time to think this plan through, unfortunately…and I certainly didn't expect a setback of this magnitude." To further her despair, Hiyori realized a most unnerving aspect of her fragile companion at that moment. "Oh god, you can't fight can you? We're dead, you've killed us! Why didn't I listen to my mom and become a pastry chef!" The downtrodden mage wailed through Carrot's much lighter voice, adding an unappealing stiffness that in no way contrasted her usual very gentle tone.

"Now, don't panic!" Carrot assured fretfully, trying to find the bright side of the abysmally hopeless situation. "I mean, yes it's true we clerics have sworn an oath of pacifism, but I've done quite well surviving on my own in Boletaria up until this point…so, is all hope really lost?" Carrot asked to an already fully chagrined magician, who could only express her despair by clenching the cleric's fingers to the bridge of her nose forcefully.

Arguing pointlessly in the darkness wasn't getting them any closer to saving Kagami however, so she gave Carrot a little push to keep moving, still attempting to profess her childish displeasure at her current situation."Yeah, we're dead, but…I've never denied giving something the old college try, eh? Not that I've ever been to college, but I'm pretty stubborn when it comes to making dreams reality. Impossible is just a word people use to make themselves feel better when they quit." Hiyori's mentor-like philosophy sparked a strangely sentimental memory buried deep in Carrot's mind, it had been so long since she had heard the phrase, and yet it resonated within as if she held the principal dear to her heart.

"What did you say?" Carrot asked in a near whisper, instantly kindling Hiyori's budding interest at her strange behavior upon hearing the axiom.

"Uh…" Hiyori only offered a series of mumbles before she cleared her throat, believing clarity to be the issue of the miscommunication. She spoke the words once more, and this time Carrot knew for sure she had heard them before. It had been some time, so much had happened since her sheltered and from a certain point of view, prosperous life, she could scarcely resemble more pointed details like her friends faces, much less the idioms and knowledge she had passed onto her.

Carrot recalled a time when these words passed through her, spoken from another, much older and wiser individual than she. Up until this point, she had completely forgotten those worriless days, a sky not shrouded in a darkened haze, a smile she didn't have to force from uneasiness or callow optimism.

* * *

"This is impossible! I don't want to be a cleric anymore." The cleric-in-training, a young and still very naïve Carrot squealed, throwing her practice dummy she had been treating across the room in a tantrum and rubbing away the flowing tears that slid painfully down her puffy cheeks.

Her guide and mentor looked down upon her student with a sigh, brushing the glaring orange hair from the child's eyes and gingerly cupping the girl's face in her large hands, shaking it disappointedly. The child's father explained his daughter was a very reserved child, almost motherly in her ways despite her age, but with such kindness came a startling anger problem, something the girl asserted only to those she cared deeply for.

"Oh come on, you're giving up so easily? Your father asked me personally to take time out of my day to teach you the ways of regenerative magic, I've given you the tools, the proper etiquette, the manner in which you cast the spells...come on kid, I've all but done your test for you, you need to believe in yourself more!" The instructor's pep talk didn't exactly invigorate the young cleric's will to dive back into her training however; in fact it only added heat to her confused anger.

The dejected Carrot stood and wiped a splurge of snot from her leaking face on her silken sleeves, sullying the exquisite garment and topping off her defiance by jutting out her tongue angrily and kicking a nearby tome, effectively destroying the expensive book of arts by sending it into a slosh of nearby mud. She followed it, slowly making her way out of the vineyard of her home and returning to its massive doors, signaling for a butler to unhinge the opening for her to allow entry.

Her guardian stood complacent for a moment before she ushered the girl's attention with a whistle, twiddling the stitched doll, Carrot's favorite, that she had disowned in her hands. Carrot quickly ran to retrieve the precious item and turned back to her house angrily, hiding her blossoming face with a grumble as her teacher chuckled at her behavior.

"You know, impossible is just a word people use to make themselves feel better when they quit." She warned, hoping to incite a breakthrough in the child's mind and change her hasty decision to give up so easily on her training.

Carrot contemplated the words for a moment before she blew a raspberry in her teacher's direction, running to the crimson doors of her home and holding her head to the door before entering.

"That's a stupid thing to say! You're stupid!" She screeched before slamming the colossal doors behind her, leaving the teacher to clean up her mess and conceive a better direction in her student's training that would get her more excited about it.

Carrot fumed as she scaled the impressive staircase of her foyer, harshly examining the blue-blooded architecture, hand-crafted bronze and marbled stairs, artist renderings of family members ravaging the walls with their regal faces and only souring the child's mood. She hated the life of a noble, for the simple fact that everybody that lived outside the walls of their secluded villa seemed to hate her, and anybody that associated themselves with her for one reason or another.

Her mother had passed long ago from a strange illness, and her father was far too busy with work to ever give her even the simplest of affections, and so her life was spent under the guidance of teachers that chose her life for her, butlers that catered to her exclusively and wished only to serve her every whim, and subjects that despised her just because she shared her family's name.

She couldn't bathe herself, clothe herself, sometimes she wondered if she was secretly watched when she slept, it wouldn't be a surprise to her in the slightest. She even had her profession chosen at birth despite her protests, her father insisted it would give her the education and know-how to survive amiably in the real world, and allow her to make an easy life for herself should something ever become of him, which he always seemed paranoid about.

Lately in her ancient homeland, the country had been plagued by an awful war. Aggressive nations were always looking to take the riches the land gave, her father's vast power and wealth among them. He constantly feared he would meet his end before he was able to complete his very secretive research, the contents and purpose of which were vague to his most trusted officials, and even his own daughter.

This didn't stop the needy Carrot from attempting to dissuade her father from his reclusive nature, or to attempt any interaction with him no matter how small and meaningless. Whenever she found herself in a rut she ventured to find her father skulking around her monstrously sized estate, asking guardsmen who probably didn't know their own shoe size, tax officials who hadn't seen him in weeks, and cooks who were ordered to send the meals directly to his study as to not disturb him. The butlers as always however, trailed their young master around the lonesome halls to keep her out of trouble, to stay her from dangerous areas and off-limits sections of her home, which she would always raise a brow at, she never understood why certain places of her own house would be inappropriate for her to tread within.

Giving the foolish servants the slip was always easy when you were so small though, hiding behind a chair or under a table would usually cut the dead weight from her search. And even unbeknownst to them, the girl knew of a place where only her father went, a secretive space of consideration and reflection, where even he, the ruler of an entire nation, would likely be scolded by his underlings for venturing to.

Carrot climbed her way to the highest reaches of her home, ducking past guards and slithering under velvet carpets as if it were a game, singling out the barred door that led to her family castle's roof top, a pathway constructed only for the purpose of maintenance, who would think to look for their ruler in such an odd place?

Apparently not a soul, because upon climbing the overbearing steps to the slippery slant of the tiled roofs, Carrot's father came into view curled into a solemn ball, gazing at the last drops of sunlight that graced the cloudless skies before him.

"Hey dad!" She called out excitedly, balancing herself as she tread across the dangerous slope and plopping down next to her sleepy father, who seemed to shake himself from a deep trance as the child approached.

"Ah…good evening, my child. Shouldn't you be training with the court mages?" He asked sternly, trying to mask the anger in his voice but doing a rather poor job of doing so.

"Yeah, but it's so hard! They try to tell me all this stupid stuff about souls, and life energies and I don't understand a word of it. I'd rather just play like all the other kids; do I really have to do this daddy? I don't very much fun being a cleric." His daughter complained naively, almost causing her father to bring out the discussion about responsibility, but he found himself too enraptured by the child's dismal frown, he couldn't deny his precious daughter in a time of strife.

"I know it may seem difficult, but in time you will understand it's what's best for you. Before your mother passed I ensured her I would raise you to be a strong, kind woman, and the clerical arts will not only teach you to respect such qualities, but ensure you live a life you can be proud of." He began lovingly, cradling an arm around the grumbling child as he gazed out into the darkening sky. "I…won't be around forever, you know." His words caused a stir in the young Carrot, and he sensed her despair and reacted with a soothing rub to the child's no doubt aching back from all the harsh training she had recently undergone.

Carrot sat in silence for a moment before she reciprocated the embrace, burying her face into her father's body and simply reveling in the fact that he was there, within her arms, not losing himself more and more to whatever research had taken control of his life. She didn't want to bring up anything regarding her father's studies though; he was engrossed within them enough without being reminded of them during his down time.

"The instructors keep calling me Carrot! You know, like what mom used to call me when I helped her pick carrots from the garden? She always grabbed my hair, said I looked like a great big carrot. Could you order them to stop, daddy? It's so childish!" Even the child was a bit taken back by her somewhat snobbish attitude, but her father only laughed heartily at the revelation, stroking his daughter's light auburn hair and reminiscing just how like her mother she really was, strikingly kind and yet had a temper greater than even the mightiest of beasts.

"I do recall that now that you mention it, but I believe Carrot suits you, my daughter, in fact just looking at you makes me hungry!" He mock-growled at the sentiment, pretending to push his daughter to the roof aggressively and nibble at her fingers. She hollered and screamed, spouting insults and fighting the urge to laugh, but she gave in eventually. Regardless of how embarrassing the moment was, she relished its silliness, she would take even a bothersome moment such as this with her father, after all, it was always a mystery to her when she might lay eyes upon him again.

The play-fighting ceased over time, and soon the father and his young daughter lay silently taking in the coming darkness, the expansive skyline over the mountain tops littered with stars, a mirror reflection to the boundless fields of flowers far below that plagued the kingdom with their beauty.

Carrot cooed as her eyes fell upon a rather particular star, bright and bluish in appearance, consuming the others around it with its gleaming radiance. Her father soon took notice after a moment of fidgeting from his daughter and he sighed in awe of its beauty.

"The northern star, my child, a guide to those who have lost their way." He explained, his face scrunching curiously when his daughter seemed to disagree with a shaking head.

"No! That's my lucky star! Back when mom was still alive she said that wishing upon stars always makes dreams come true, and so I chose the brightest star in the sky to quadruple my chances!" Carrot childishly explained, awaiting a response from her father before he gave in and accepted her answer, looking into his daughter's deep eyes as he did so.

"And? What did you wish for upon your lucky star, my child?" Her father asked at first at the level of a child's imagination, not taking it entirely seriously until the jubilation of the situation died down, and his daughter's sneer melted into a detached grimace.

"I wished that…you'd stop being so busy, that your dumb research would be done and you could spend time with me and mom again. But then mom died…and you got even busier, I don't think my wish came true." The child's voice cracked and faded with her words, and it was then her father truly began to listen, to notice the pain hidden behind the young eyes, a sorrow he had never seen before in the sunshine that peaked through his cloudy world, his one and only daughter.

"My child I…" He began painfully, not even knowing where to begin after such a comment; it wasn't as if his daughter's words were untrue. He had been cruel, neglectful, and overbearingly cold in the last few passing years since his life collapsed into a downward spiral of constant crisis. The death of his one and only true love his dearest wife, burdening wars that destroyed his resources and consumed his time, and of course, his incredibly important research. While he knew it wouldn't be easy on his daughter, he thought that after time she would come to terms with her new life, it seemed this was not the case, even now she wished only to be by his side in his time of sorrow, to be his shoulder to lean and to cry on when his fatigue got the better of him.

He waited a moment before responding, biting his wrinkly lip and caressing his daughter's face as he placed a tender kiss upon her sweaty forehead.

"My precious child, I regret deeply what I am about to say…but I cannot promise you the two of us will always be together, and I further extend apology when I say my research does take up the majority of my time…but know that it is very important, and I do it only for you. I cannot even begin to say how sorry I am for what I have put you through, but do know this." Her father started, lifting the girl upon his lap and cradling her within his arms, squeezing upon the soft flesh as if she too, would suddenly vanish like his late wife. "I love you more than even I can fathom, and I promise you your wish has not gone to waste. I will try harder, I will spend every waking moment of my time not dedicated to my research holding you in my embrace, placing a smile upon your beautiful face, playing and eating your favorite foods and…oh my child, please forgive me." The father ended his promise with a crushing hug, shielding his daughter from his wet eyes in shame, not wishing for her to see him in such a weakened state.

"D-Dad, cut it out." Carrot protested as she attempted to push her father from her form, only to surrender to its warmth willingly once she knew there was no escaping him at that moment.

"Ayano, my sweetest rose, you keep your dream dear to you, do you hear me? I swear upon your lucky star I will create a world where you can live peacefully, where the two of us can be happy." While the man's wish was vague, that wasn't the part that offset the mood for the child, it was her name, it was almost odd to hear it at that moment. Only her father called her by her true name, most of the servants didn't even have the decency to try and remember it, despite the young lord being their master.

"I hope you do dad, I'd really like that. Do you think…do you think mom would have liked the world you're going to create for us?" Ayano questioned hopefully, beaming when her father returned her guarded grin with one of his own.

"I know she would."

* * *

The memories faded from Carrot's mind as she hid her face behind the lime glow of her magically imbued palms, using their hum as her only means of traversing the blackness all around her. Hiyori had continued talking regardless of the mutual interaction, trying to keep Carrot calm and assure her they would not only find help for Kagami, but the exit down the mountainside, which she wasn't exactly sure why anybody sans Hiyori would be ecstatic about.

Carrot pushed herself out of the tight spaced hive and into a more open area, noticing it to be a buried portion of one of the shadowed lands many temples, crushed beneath the weight of an untimely rockslide. Within the mangled stone she noticed another passage, deciding it was her chosen route as the only alternative was a deadly drop down the mountain slopes.

Carrot stopped when a ghoulish sound permeated from the blackened hole, nervously holding her hands together in prayer before she converged upon the caved in door.

"Aha ha ha…uh…you first." Hiyori joked shamelessly from within, begetting a rolling of the eyes from Carrot as she heaved Kagami higher onto her back for leverage before she pushed past the barrier of stone.

"This is going to be dreadful."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Holy crap forgive me for not updating for two weeks, totally not intentional. My dad got me into The Walking Dead and we marathoned that shit together, pretty swag show. Besides that Diablo III came out, and I picked up the Jak and Daxter HD collection, those have taken away my time too. Oddly enough it wasn't at all a lack of inspiration or will to write, as both of those are as strong as ever, I just needed a little break I guess. Thanks for the oddly enough, still pretty high hits and such even though I wasn't updating, new people are flocking to my story every day, just wish more would review. Nitpicking though, keep making me smile you guys, or make me cry, whatever, I'll still love you and still keep updating this crappy story. I've no intention of abandoning it, no worries.


	22. Silence

**Lucky Souls**

* * *

**Chapter 22: Silence  
**

For Konata Izumi, to maintain a quiescent air was insulting to the very core of her character. Patient inaction to her was a foolish prospect in any situation, regardless of the overly dominating circumstances, the abysmal odds, or her own stakes in the matter.

It never occurred to her that this was a foolish trait, an immature philosophy that in the land of Boletaria might possibly place her and those she cared for in danger. Her taste for adventure and reckless neglect of her own safety didn't help, and usually unbeknownst to her, hindered everyone involved.

Were it not for her actions up until this point, her dear Kagamin wouldn't be in the dire straits she no doubt found herself in. For all the bluenette knew, she was dead or worse. It was for this sole reason she decided now that she deigned it imprudent to act considerably flamboyant as per usual.

Their tight group was, at the moment, broken and scattered. With just her own dry wit, amateur sword hand, and Miyuki's magic to depend on, she'd need all the mature concentration she could muster. And while the others were no doubt dealing with treacherous trials of their own, Kagami was in known mortal danger, with nobody but herself to depend on in her hour of darkness.

The chilling fact still remained however, was Kagami even present within the shadowed temples? The Monumental couldn't have been wrong, telling a tale of a place beyond its scale of sight. Miyuki, oddly enough, knew of such a place, and Konata certainly trusted her judgment and knowledge far more than a demon's.

On the topic of Miyuki, even Konata remained ashamedly observant. The mage's arcane origins had never bothered her, and she trusted the girl she considered a sister with her darkest secrets, deepest desires, frightening inhibitions, and wildest aspirations. However even the stoic Konata was a tad shaken up by Patricia's tale of woe, the terrible things of which she spoke concerning her friend.

Miyuki had never once mentioned anything of such a magnitude ever occurring in her life. She had told extensively of her time within the hallowed walls of the temples, her former home, and her salvation at the hands of her own father, Sojiro, who took the battered and amnesiac-induced girl to his humble town to nurse her back to health under his guidance.

Konata remembered her long-time friend much differently back then; she was shy to a fault, barely able to look anybody in the face without melting into an intense rosy blush and shielding herself. An adorable trait really, now that she thought about it. In fact the day the magician had been brought back to their home she hadn't said but two words to anyone but her.

"Izumi-San." Miyuki spoke calmly, alerting her mentally preoccupied friend to a passing cadre of skeletal aggressors, motioning for her to dip her body lower to the ground and stall movement.

Konata understood, forcing her wriggling mind to think lucidly for once, she refused any screw ups on her behalf during such a hectic time, she needed to be on her absolute best behavior, regardless if she was struggling to force herself to do so. It just wasn't in her nature to act so collected, to remain aloof and chronically cynical and sassy helped ease her nerves, to steel her convictions in the face of death, to act composed was to open herself for a blade.

A shifting mind wouldn't make for a keen mind however. She needed a distraction, if she couldn't act as she wished, she'd do the next best thing, recall a time where she was characteristically sound.

* * *

"Konata honey, I need you to watch over her for a bit alright? I need to go fetch some things, that fever of hers is taking way more of a toll on her than I thought it would." Her father Sojiro had commanded to his daughter an early autumn morning so many years ago, long before the mystery of his disappearance, or even the known destruction of Boletaria.

Along the road to their hometown of Kasukabe the Izumi's had noticed a most peculiar sight, a heavily tarnished and malnourished girl, no older than Konata herself. The child's clothing was stained with blood and shredded profusely, Sojiro had believed at first the poor thing had been beset upon by some wandering beast of the wilds, but the lack of injuries and the sheer volume of blood soundly diminished the credibility of that theory.

The man and his cordial daughter wasted no time in attending to the girl's dire needs, and decided it best to bring her to their home until they could locate her strangely absent parents. The location of her family was second hand to her health for the moment, especially considering the strange heat that seemed to pulse from the young girl's head without warning, she wasn't nearly in this bad of shape when they had apprehended her from the wilds.

Feeling unusually benign in her ways, Konata ran a cool rag over the unfamiliar girl's head, brushing her cracked and stained glasses before she continued to her fluttering eyes to wipe away the fussy bits of grime.

Alarmingly, the bluenette saw an air of stifled breathing commence within the girl, quaking her tiny form as she struggled to take a much needed gasp of life. Worried her body may be in duress on the inside rather than the out; Konata immediately ripped a line down the girl's loose collar of her robe and planted an ear onto her heaving chest, making sure her faint heartbeat was still steadily ticking away.

It dawned upon her during her examination, that the girl oddly enough had unusually perky breasts for a child her age. Konata sneered with sleaze as she rubbed her face into them without shame, halting her foolishness when the slumbering girl awoke with a thundering cough, sending her glasses clear off her face and sending them flying into the unknown.

"Holy crap you scared me!" Konata nearly shouted, collapsing backwards onto the bouncy bed and grasping her shuddering heart for good measure.

With a still heavy doze the sickly girl looked around the room in a glazed confusion, rubbing her foggy eyes and attempting to discern where exactly she was, or what was even happening at that moment. Something vaguely resembling a person trenched underneath a sea of blue locks focused within her jittery vision, she reached out to the figure and cupped her cheeks, rolling the soft flesh between her fingers to determine if it was in fact a human being.

Under the girl's searching touch, Konata couldn't help but wickedly snicker; she had never seen such an innocent creature in her few years of life. Hesitantly she removed herself from the coming fingers after she had milked the situation for all it was worth, skipping to the other side of the room to locate the girls missing spectacles, which she found after a brief moment of destroying the messy room.

Carefully she clasped the metal latches over the girls' ears, positioning the frames upon the bridge of her nose perfectly and laughing even harder when the weakened girl did a disservice to her condition by doubling over backwards against the headboard of her bed in embarrassment at their close proximity.

"Haha! Oh my god, you are so _moe._ Are you even real? You can't be real; no kid has boobs this big." Konata proclaimed as she grasped her hands roughly onto her companion's chest, reeling them back when she began squirming in displeasure.

"P-Please mind your own personal space! It's very…" Curiously the young mage stalled herself from expending her feelings on the matter of sexual harassment, instead examining her surroundings with an almost frightened look.

A worn down house flaked with dust, rickety and barely held together, it even dawned upon her only then that her bed was nothing but blankets cushioned with piles of fresh hay. The child who sat at her front resembled the dirty and shambled house, scruffy and torn, her oversized clothes shadowing her petite body, riddled with the holes made by hungry moths. Her somewhat boyish clothing was offset by her ridiculously long hair, which almost wrapped about her like a protective coating, shielding her hazy look under a tuft of bangs.

The uncomfortable silence was deracinated by the arrival of a man, old and kind looking, his hair just as deep as the ocean like his child's. In his arms were bundled a mess of strange looking stitched dresses, his daughter groaned at the sight and promptly hurled a pillow at him in response, he laughed in a knowing fashion and turned to reveal a medical bag hiding underneath the piles of clothing.

"I brought that too! I just…you know, wanted to see how she might look in a few of these." The wily old man had suggested, to which at first his daughter seemed against, but in no time at all it seemed as if she wore that same devilish grin he did.

Miyuki looked between the daughter and her father as they tossed the medical supplies away without a thought, instead showering the befuddled young girl with an alarming pile of expertly crafted dresses and frilly clothing. The mage coddled herself in fear as she pushed back to the edge of the bed, looking between the two with hope she wouldn't be their next victim, with whatever it is the they did to young girls they brought to their home.

"W-Who are you people…?" Miyuki begged for a response, shielding herself with her hands as the two exchanged glances, returning their emerald gazes to her with a perfectly symmetrical thumbs up.

"We're the Izumi's!" They chimed in unison, converging upon the poor soul and forcefully tugging the selective clothing over Miyuki's head in a flash.

* * *

The daydream reinvigorated her mind far more than Konata had anticipated, she couldn't have imagined she'd recall such a distant memory so accurately, she had almost forgotten that her family was the reason Miyuki ever took up resident in Kasukabe in the first place.

The amnesiac magician had told her so much that day, what she was, where she came from. Miyuki had explained she was born in a far off and distant land, a land of light and dark, deep in the southern most reaches of the world. A land named Lordran, sanctum of lords. She explained that this is where her mysterious and magically-talented people hailed from in the dawn times, and took passages across the great seas to reach the northern lands, specifically a small kingdom known as Boletaria.

During the long sea passages Miyuki herself was born from her mother and one of the fishermen, who died of an unknown illness shortly before they reached mainland. Now a child, she and her mother journeyed to the very shadowed temples their troupe now skulked within, where she had learned the ways of her people, magic.

Beyond this, the extent of her life as a mage seemed a mystery to even her, something within her had made her forget whatever transpired in the foggy gap of time. Forgetting her life as a mage, Miyuki slowly settled into her new life in Kasukabe, leaving behind a mother, her practices, and a host of other things she wished she could recall.

And now the missing pieces presented themselves to both her and Konata. A lifetime of hatred, a duo of demons, the destruction of a city and a massacre on a grand scale, these were things Konata never could have guessed transpired in the life of her friend.

Miyuki halted their advance for a moment as she attempted to discern the nature of the waterworks before her, she had known they existed during her stay in the temples, but never questioned why it was absolutely forbidden to enter.

"I've no memory of this place beyond a restricted entry; we should be cautious Izumi-San." She alerted to the bluenette, who trusted the mage's judgment without question, she was the expert on the situation after all.

As they entered the tunnels, the ascendant calm that lingered between the two placed a cold hitch in the air; Miyuki had noticed it ever since their run in with the crusaders of Umbasa. She knew how her friend must feel discovering her true nature, a disposition that was unknown to even her, for she could not remember it. And yet to know that your friend of many years is a murderer, tool or otherwise, willingly or not, would be nothing shy of unsettling. Miyuki had to be sure there was no lingering apprehension.

"Izumi-San, I don't want there to be any doubt between us. Do you believe I did the things Patricia accused me of?" Miyuki blabbed outright, neither averse in her tone nor frightened in its substance. She now recalled what she had done, and she would face up to it in time if she had to, but what was most important was how those she loved now viewed her, she prayed their viewing of her would be at least neutral-minded.

Konata had anticipated the questioning, and she had no qualms about engaging in such a heavy conversation either. However she didn't wish to lie to Miyuki, to say she was not disturbed would be a lie, and to say she didn't believe Patricia would be equally foolish.

Patricia had no reason to lie, and Miyuki did not deny the crimes she accused her of. And while the situation did not concern her, she wished dearly to be a part of it, to understand her friend's mind at that moment.

"I don't really know, Miyuki. I mean, yeah, that's pretty zany stuff…I certainly have a hard time imagining someone as docile as a baby deer carving down an entire town in cold blood." She began as she met Miyuki's eyes directly, holding them with a desire to answer her outright without interruption. "I don't know if Patty's right, or if you really did that stuff, or even if those crazy crusaders had anything to do with it. I've got stories to go on and nothing more…but I look at it this way." Drifting in between her words Konata heartily clasped her hands on Miyuki's shoulders, tenderly grinning. "Regardless of what you did in your past, you can't let it affect you in the future. What you did in the past is past. The Miyuki I know today and have known for years wouldn't do the things Patricia spoke of, not on purpose. So regardless if I know the full story or not, or even if I ever know it, I trust you Miyuki. We're friends; I wouldn't let something dark that happened in your past impact that friendship now." Konata's resolute credence calmed Miyuki's faltering heart unbeknownst to the former, but the thankful smile offered a hint.

Miyuki was nothing but a victim of circumstance, down to her very dawn of life and the core of her being. She was a mage, untrustworthy and demonic by nature, even if she hadn't been the progenitor of Yoshimizu's destruction, most folks would've believed the stories without a doubt. While Konata would never truly know the depth of Miyuki's heartfelt thanks for saving her life, and taking her in and nurturing her into the woman of today, the mage would pay her back each and every day by rectifying her mistakes, and following the example of the benevolent Izumi family.

* * *

"Umbasa guide us…" Carrot muttered as she declined herself to her knees, anointing the bloodied dust at her feet with a curled religious symbol created from her hands, signifying the glory and essence of the dead god Umbasa.

"Jeeze, almost makes you wish she would." Hiyori dejected, using Carrot's hand to lift a severed skull from her spiritual vantage point and examine the blunt trauma that had pierced the bone. Rudely she dropped the remains to the dirt and continued her processing; noticing the copious amounts of ceremonially ravished sacrificial altars in the area, still illuminated by a legion of allayed candle flames, some even still gracing the bodies of the condemned.

Carrot reprimanded her with a sigh for her distasteful attitude towards the dead, slowly lowering the fading Kagami from her shoulders so she could bless the deceased properly. Hiyori watched silently from within their shared vessel as she traveled from corpse to corpse, touching a hand to the remains and mumbling out a brief phrase for each, it was troubling to say the least.

"I'm not usually the intolerant one, but uh…Kagami-San is dying, we don't have time to sanctify these bodies." Hiyori warned, grumbling when she saw no stray from the cleric's actions. "You know the gods don't exist anyway." Her antipathetic statement sent Carrot into a grazing fury, or as much as the kind soul could muster, fruitlessly furrowing her brow into something that vaguely resembled anger.

"And how do you know this for sure?" Carrot squeaked, her voice cracking under the harsh tone she attempted to apply to her words.

"Well, Umbasa for one wasn't a goddess, she was a mage. The idea of a god is so obscured by time that anything could fit the description, is a king a god because he's respected, praised and takes care of his people? Is a mother a god to her child because she nurtures it, carried it with her and let it feed upon her? Huh, how primal and sexy that sounded, feed upon her." Hiyori's theory on the nature of gods ended as expected, with a bit joke, which only furthered her companion's heating conniption.

"Well…if it's all the same to you, in a world of demons, death, and destruction…I like to believe there's a little something more out there, a purpose to the chaos. And if what you say is true, then Umbasa is still my goddess regardless. She was saintly, revered beyond imagination as a soul so astonishingly kind she'd forgo judgment on the most heinous of criminals…everyone deserves a second chance." Carrot abruptly ended her rant with a gargle of her throat, scratching it profusely as she cradled Kagami into her arms once more, off to pursue the miracle cure to save her waning life.

Hiyori inhibited herself from reciprocating an attack on the faith-laden argument, instead using her sight to feast upon the various symbols plastered on every inch of the wall. The mages as a whole were a very agnostic people, ironic considering they absorbed power directly from an ethereal and disputed essence, souls. The embroideries were of Umbasa, a bloodstained cross lathered in the thorny bristles of wilting roses, a symbol of death.

Much of the religion of Umbasa centered around the concept of death, and how it sheds the mortal coils to revive into a new instance of being. Many religions based this upon concepts such as recreation, or a kingdom of paradise for the soul, but the faith of Umbasa believed that men lived on in the form of undead, a living body devoid of the soul essence that allows it to function, requiring the constant acquisition and absorption of others souls.

The agnosticism of the mage society, a people closer to gods than anyone, stemmed from the belief that the power of souls was created by none other than man. Mage records dated back to the prime evil times of their world, in which a gracious priestess named Umbasa used the power of magic, an ability siphoned from the hearts of demons, to do the same to mankind. She used the ability to remove the entirety of a human's life essence in the form of magic, a soul, and the stronger the mind of the individual, the more powerful the soul energy was.

In her time, such an ability was unheard of, and worthy of a godlike status amongst the populace. To the day many still believed Umbasa was able to achieve godhood, and did not die as a human like so many say. The contradiction to her absolute supremacy was the common mage belief that Umbasa was not the first to discover magic, but that she simply rediscovered the lost art and brought it to the majority of mankind.

The true origin of magic was likely many eons before her, in which the Monumentals, beings of pseudo magical powers somewhat resembling modern day mages, created demons, but since no man ever conversed with a Monumental in known time, such a claim could never be refuted or proved.

What disturbed Hiyori regarding the scenery though was not symbols of death, it was the existence of torture devices and sanctuaries in a place where gods and religion were all but disregarded as myth. Religious symbols and paraphernalia were allowed only for the purpose of study, and these devices and flags were clearly set up for a far darker purpose, one that satiated Hiyori just enough to reconsider her silence.

"Ironic that Umbasa, a goddess of peace, is used as an excuse to commit atrocities like this don't you think?" Hiyori questioned, not trying to offend per se, but wishing her statement to have that dry ooze of sarcasm to prove her point.

"Hiyori-Chan just-" Carrot halted her futile advance in the conversation to focus on the abnormally painful ringing in her ears that had seemingly sprouted from nowhere. Shakily she dabbed a finger to her throbbing eardrum, and felt the gooey essence of blood within, she cringed slightly, offhandedly healing the injury with her arts and waiting momentarily for a catalyst to present itself to explain her ruptured ears.

The agitators revealed themselves as shadowy extracts born from the victims of sacrifice, lanky and clarion, what visible remnants of form there were painted a dull black across their non-existent skin. Tattooed across their gangly bodies were a series of vein-like symbols, standing out from their darkened form and emitting a sparkling cyan hue, striking like lightning across their bodies leading up to the facial regions, where a single globe of swaying light beat ominously, reminiscent of a heart sending blood to every corner of a body.

While seemingly intangible, the creature's mammoth feet seemed to excrete a gooey coal-colored substance with each step they took, ushering in an orchestra of squishy slops and squeaks. Yet the noise that vexed Carrot so seemed to expunge from the swaying mass of light in the creature's face, a whisper of gargled words, almost like a faint echo.

The lumbering shadow men slowly advanced on the lone Carrot, devoid of any combat training or survival skills in the face of death, she knew only to run, scooping up Kagami mid-jog as she began her sprint.

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly! Run, anywhere, just go!" Hiyori called out from within, her own bodiless existence on the line at that moment as well. The situation was even worse for her, all she could do was helplessly watch through Carrot's teary eyes as she swayed back and forth, pumping her feet into the dust and covering as much ground as her dainty body allowed.

And yet her impending doom seemed absolute, the very shadows casted across the stony walls seemed to bubble and twist, unearthing more of the specters from their camouflage to join their brethren in the hunt for the souls they craved.

Carrot's legs buckled from exhaustion as she burst through the only door in sight, evoking a cry of frustration when the door led to a profoundly vertical cliff side, with a jagged and aged stairwell being the only noticeable path to escape with.

"I can't make it, not with Kagami; we won't all make it across." Carrot messily uttered between her sobs, coming to grasp with the hopelessness of the situation and giving in to defeat, steadily relieving herself of the unconscious burden that was Kagami and turning her eyes to her death, the legion of shadow men.

"Oh no, please don't say that! Come on, up and at 'em champ! Remember? Impossible is just a word people use to make themselves feel better when they quit! Remember my super cool and inspiring phrase? Oh please god say you remember it so you can get your ass in gear and move!" Hiyori urged from within, not wishing her life to be dashed by some aimless demon in some forgotten temple.

Carrot was never one for inspiration though; she preferred to be stubborn until the end, even if it was literal. Caving to the horrors around her seemed so easy compared to the daunting task that lay ahead, maybe it would be simpler just to succumb to a simpler death.

The shadow men stood over her crumbled self, almost pityingly looking upon the mentally absorbed prey; surely they would be doing her a justice by ending her now, Carrot thought, if such creatures were capable of cognitive thought. Her mind was befuddled, a chance at death she almost wished to take, out of her reach, for the strength of her love for another kept her mind in full service.

"Please." Carrot sputtered, half under the weight of a bemoaning sob, to anything that would hear the call. Be they gods, humans, or even the monstrosities before her, surely somebody would beseech her will to live, and grant her the gift of aegis.

The damned men converged upon her huddled form nonetheless, deaf to her sorrows, delighted by them in their hunger, another token to further enrich their demonic powers. And had they had their lustful ways come to fruition, a grand meal that would've rejuvenated them nicely, but not this child, not at this moment.

Carrot's savior was a lofted spear, wrapped in ageless vines and the buds of newborn flowers, accurately perforating its way into the jelly-like skull of the lead shadow man, piercing through its single unwavering eye and melting the beast into a bilious glop.

The priestess' mouth hung open sharply as the bearer of the spear came to rest next to the lance with a hop of almost avian quality. A warrior now stood before her, skin of an almost amber-quality darkness, and eyes as mercilessly gold as the sun. She turned for a moment to look in the uncertain eyes of the alarmed cleric, before silently tearing her extension of power from the ground and spinning it like a top, systematically beheading each and every shadow around them, resulting in each and every demon collapsing into a formless puddle like the first.

Carrot's gloom was quickly coddled into a tweaked grin at the sight of the drudge, leading a collective of exotic looking warriors at her back. Whether her lord was authentic or not, it seemed somebody had shined their good will upon her in her darkest hour, she couldn't help but praise them with a fulfilled huff.

"Praise Umbasa."

* * *

Shadow had an effect on the body not unlike a reverse photosynthesis, draining it of its energy to the point of a strained, heavy feeling. Was it the oppressive atmosphere, the bone-chilling whispers of faceless maws in the darkness, or recent developments that twisted Konata's mind to a constrained status? Her body swooned liberally under the squeeze of the silence, inconsistently interrupted by a shuddering cough or wipe of a now heated brow.

Miyuki had noticed her friend's iron resilience beginning to at last fade; she couldn't help but wonder when the bluenette had last slept. Disheveled hair, a seeping paleness of the face, and rough baggage cresting her eyes gave hint enough, and unfortunately for the two, the mage's inherent nurturing nature couldn't allow such physical deficiencies.

"Izumi-San, I'm feeling a bit faint, may we rest a moment?" Miyuki lied with a tender smile, knowing full-well that if she advocated it wasn't she, but the azure knight that seemed ill, a long-awaited rest would never come for her.

Konata's shivering eyes lingered unhurriedly in Miyuki's direction for a faltering moment before they conceded, and almost immediately the fatigued warrior allowed herself to drop to her knees in a grunt of pain, as if she had been secretly waiting for her friend to suggest such a thing.

Konata had always hidden her pain well, both within and out. Behind that somewhat mysterious ceaseless grin, a thousand unspoken emotions, just the way the would-be adventurer preferred it. To those who searched past the naïve veil, they would find an abysmally deep chasm of unreleased emotion, of both tortured and serendipitous natures, sealed away for the good of those around her.

A lifetime of friendship removed this barrier of enigma between these two however, and Miyuki of all people could see when even the one of limitless energy had pushed themselves to reaches far beyond their capability.

A motherly hand drifted to Konata's drenched forehead, slicked with sweat. The magician's face was distorted with disappointment; she had feared her friend might do this.

"Izumi-San, how long has it been since you last slept? Or ate?" She questioned broodingly, not attempting to aggressively pry, knowing all too well the rule of similar forces opposing, in this case, Konata's tempered emotions conflicting with her own.

Konata's eyes rolled at the question, and she seemingly brushed it off as she cupped her throbbing head out of sight, out of shame Miyuki surmised.

"I'm fine, don't worry so much. It's only been a few days." Konata brazenly suggested without a hint of worry in her voice, endeavoring to stand and push her limits further, only to fail before her buckling ankles gave way, her profuse anger stifling her clouded concentration.

"It's not fine. How are you going to rescue Hiiragi-San if your body is continuously betrayed by such brash thinking?" The mage cautioned as a batting hand of protest dissuaded her from further interjection on the matter.

At glance of the warrior's hand, Miyuki couldn't help but notice the bruising callouses upon her dirtied palms, painted with dried crimson streaks of waste, most of which did not likely belong to her. Under her now filthy, ratty hair, she wore an expression of burned out anguish, the sheen of her eyes could nary be seen buried beneath the sunken orbs. Such a weathered appearance adorning the face of a maiden so young, Konata truly held the face of an avid adventurer now, whether she realized it or not.

Miyuki exhaled a sigh bereft of any sternness, for she could not bring herself to stall a will so adamantly emboldened by love. Yet the bluenette's unfailing convictions would be her downfall with such forward tactics, even Konata likely realized such things bordered on hopelessly naïve. Naivety, unfortunately for both them and the tsundere in distress, was a trait carried only by the butchered corpses one found littered across every stone-beaten path of Boletaria.

"I know how you feel, I desperately wish to see her again too…I'd even take a witness to one of her verbal thrashings at this point." The sorceress chuckled more to herself than her companion, scraping her fingers across the swords-woman's clothes to pull her shaky frame to its feet. "However if you find indomitable willpower to be your only weapon against the dangers to come, I fear you will fail." Miyuki urged without falter, her harsh words slid from her tongue minus pause and breath, austere advice always required an ambience correspondent to the adherent of the situation. Oddly in this case, the pupil was Konata.

A shuddering anger took the bluenette, but it did not break her, only silence her. In her eyes, if Kagami, in her state of despair and danger, was not allowed a reprieve of body or spirit, neither should she be allowed such a gift. This was the way she had looked at it, until now, the lack of better judgment being the cursed perpetrator.

How lowly would it be by Konata's perception, to suffer a fate brought about by fatigue, to have the story of the Azure Knight end by a rumbling in her belly? A self imposed will of cocksure gullibility is what had landed them, to some involuntarily, in the role of saviors of the dying world in the first place. Maturing wasn't exactly on the perturbed knight's to do list, but she wouldn't be caught dead acting so foolishly if it endangered one she cared deeply for, she had promised herself this.

Caving in as her wavering stamina gave way, Konata surrendered to the gracious ache that reminded her of her limits, she reveled in the abrupt pain that forced her back to reality as her rump made friends with the crumbled stones at her feet.

Awkwardly the begrudging warrior offered a heartfelt smile of thanks to her friend, even though it was more herself that convinced her of her dangerous pushing. Her lifting, dried lips declined steadily into composure, the first true relaxed expression the sorceress had seen upon her in some time.

It took mere moments for cognition to leave her as her brain space flamed violently, and just as hastily was washed with darkness. Miyuki almost broke loose a strained giggle as her friend collapsed onto the ground, heavy snoring akin to some displaced creatures call erupting from her gargling gullet.

Such vociferous moaning would madden the senses of any sane individual, but to the mage it brought only a fulfilled smirk. Like the mother of a flourishing child she came to be so very proud of her dear friend, how she grew and developed soundly each passing day, especially since they had come to Boletaria on their fated quest.

She like Konata, were both still very juvenile in their ways despite the many things they had learned since their arrival to the damned lands. Willfully ignorant until forcefully taught or bothered was the way Konata presented herself, and for one such as her it surprisingly worked out well. And yet Miyuki could not live this way, the knowledge and dogmas that escaped her gaze in the growing world would not fall to something as pointlessly apathetic as philistinism.

Konata chose to see only what was right in front of her, whether out of fear of what may lay beyond, or just common disinterest, Miyuki wasn't sure. What she was sure of though, is that such focus gave Konata the will to far surpass any she had ever met, in terms of smarts, athleticism, whatever the case was, the bluenette didn't have a limit. In her geared ways, the very concept of the limit was nothing but a roadblock to be overcome, a mental stickler that dissuaded the weak from succeeding on their chosen paths.

It was this carefully guarded philosophy that allowed Konata, past mortal limits, to go without food or sleep for days on end in her pursuit of the missing Kagami, to the point where it may even gravely impact her immediate health. While at first glance a detrimental ideology to most, those who looked past the veil would find a deep pool of wisdom, and should they choose to rectify the wrongs and sate themselves in the belief, they may find an attitude more than possible of avid succession in any case.

It would require a lifetime of reflection and obstinate contemplation, but with her magnificently crafted will, Konata would learn the mistakes of her principles as she grew. And until she was able to see such things on her own, Miyuki would gladly offer a helping hand where it was needed most, the warrior's enduring heart.

Nurturing one another's dynamic egos would take a lifetime of unwavering friendship and dedication, something the downtrodden mage realized would continue to elude them should haunting whines of unnamed things revel in their horror as they rung in her ears.

The noise came as an impending doom to those in its midst, for the bearer of such a gnawing wail was surely death itself when the shaken mage had beheld its gruesome splendor.

The demon stood at least ten feet tall, its lithe figure hidden beneath a ragged cloak of pure black, the entire figure of the spindly mini-giant was obscured sans an intimidating pair of attenuated hands rotted coarsely to browning bones.

A diseased fog poured from its hidden maw, corrupting the very air around it into a static-like aura, causing Miyuki's fidgeting nostrils to convulse forcibly in disgust at the repugnant odor. The obnoxious gas all but concealed an oaken stick shoveled over one of its cloaked shoulders, cast with an iron sickle braided to its neck.

The troubled enchantresses first thought was to motion for her sickly companion to arise, but silence was any warrior's greatest asset. The prey of the duo of belligerents was only so as long as long as they held fear within their hearts, and the last of the Takara blood-line held no such qualms. Fear was only as such subjectively in the mind of the beholder, and it had been a long, long time since she had feared the presence of devilish beings.

Ready as she was to effortlessly tear the beast asunder amidst a weaving cloud of magic, she stalled her ritualistic hand motions when her glare caught the sheen of raven bristles of unkempt hair hanging motionlessly underneath the arm of the demon, adorning a seemingly dead young girl, whose body seemed coated in shards of patiently dissolving frost.

How curious a sight it was, and while she didn't intend to allow the impersonator of death to keep the body for its foul purposes, she wouldn't allow her plan to awaken Konata from her blissful hibernation.

A pair of twinkling orbs in the hollow hood of the creature's head fixated themselves on the magician as she voluntarily made her presence known, stepping forth to caution the fiend from further continuation of its foul purposes, it did not heed as expected.

Without a roaring grunt or aggressive stance, the demon shed the lifeless girl from its arms and allowed her to flop to the ground noisily, but not enough to wake the debilitated Azure Knight.

It aligned its scythe to the ground, scraping it menacingly across the now decaying earth, pairing the taunt with a distended finger of bony cartilage aimed in her direction.

Death tolled for her and yet Miyuki was not afraid, for to be a mage, one was always hounded by such a prospect. It was at that passing thought that she wondered if the evil being was even genuine in its existence, and not just some deranged personification of her inner thoughts regarding the fate of the mage society. A stretch for even her, Miyuki realized, but she appreciated the symbolism nonetheless.

A thunderous beating of her heart alarmed her senses that she had entered the euphoric state of spiritual possession, a phase many skilled mages regularly found themselves in during moments of inner tranquility, a nirvana reached only by one at peace with oneself. The state required total obedience of the mind and body to another, an unknown spirit, to take her body as its own for but a brief instant.

The drenching sweat that covered her palms only amplified as they were encompassed by a plumage of auburn flames, dancing wildly from her fingertips to the center of her palms. The erratic movements of each whirling blaze attracted itself to its siblings, converging into a perfectly round orb of fire.

With a grunt of tire the conjurer hurled one of the whistling projectiles at her target, chafing her two jaw lines together grittily as the reaper grabbed the accelerated concentration of magic mid air and squeezed it within its crushing grip, popping it like a balloon.

To falter was to die, and Miyuki did stumble not in the least, instead hurdling the secondary missile at the beasts head with expert precision, charging in cautiously when the mess of fire collapsed into the demon's face like a mask of pain.

The crackling snap of fire was not enough to wake Konata still, and Miyuki intended to use her copacetic blessing, likely the only she would receive.

While doused in the blanket of the sorceress' raging fire, Miyuki clutched beneath the reapers leathery capote and harshly clutched its skeletal spine, embroiling it with raw heat and sending the hungry fire throughout the creature's body.

Detaching herself from the essence of death, she swung her closed fists forward, allowing an arcane gust of slicing winds to twirl like a tornado towards her enemy. The blades of zephyr did their duty, cutting cleanly through the thick bones of the reaper and tearing it asunder, ridding the demon of life as the flames doused whatever spark of existence it still held.

Almost as if it were choreographed, Miyuki gyrated her spine and seized the falling scythe mid-air, beholding her expression of momentary satisfaction in the glint of its bloodied shank.

As she pirouetted to see if Konata had arisen from slumber during her battle of silence, she breathed several different airs. One of overwhelmed relief to see that she was indeed still in delighted repose, and one of imminent doom at the sight of a squadron of intangible shadow beings, human in body, cracked with a host of throbbing veins culminating in a glorious eye atop their featureless head.

These shadow-men indeed resembled the reaper short of the cloak of shadow, but something about them filled Miyuki with far more than uneasiness. They didn't seem intimidating to her, or even aggressive, the first wave of feelings she felt as she regarded them was nostalgia, a frightening sense of nostalgia.

It wasn't as if she didn't understand why either, these shadow-men, lurkers of the dark places of the world, were not something she was unfamiliar of. Nay, she had learned of their existences long before Boletaria was consumed by the colorless fog, from none other than her master of magic.

She recalled he was a stern man, never hesitating to reinforce law standard to mage society, a set of principles relying on sacrifice and pain to achieve self satisfaction. If one were to become known wholly to oneself, a pact of dedication had to be made with ones heart, a loyalty extending far beyond mortal coils. The absolute adherence to mage culture was something Miyuki never understood, for it only seemed to further prove to the world mages were just another danger, by achieving what all men desire in their heart of hearts, immortality.

Never ending life was not something unknown, or even rare in mage society. Archaic tomes of times past, and by extension of the sorcerer's omnipotent foresight, future, showed many examples of mages that had achieved such a status in a variety of ways. Demonic transformation, forcible magical infusion, time recession and possession, the ways to attain demigod-hood wasn't nearly as impossible or numerically deficient in ways as many claimed.

It was this prospect that brought about these remorseful memories, but the catalyst of the reminiscence was the single, fluctuating orb that the specters shown so brilliantly. The arteries suffused with dark energies formed a certain insignia she identified as the Eye of the Black Demon, a significant design among the mage culture.

The Black Demon was the savior known to mankind, a human that surrendered their will to the Old One and took the beast into their own body, hosting its almighty power. In reality, no records of such an event taking place exist in any tome mankind possessed, for the mages searched far and wide for any such indication of the event. They found what they had sought, in a book of secrets not meant for man, a guide to the gods, implying that the Monumentals, the observers, were the ones who in actuality sought the aid of the human and tricked the individual into an unwilling sacrifice.

Such a recording was, as such, taken lightly, existing in a creed of the gods, and therefore to the mage society something to be taken only metaphorically no matter how clear and literal its utterance. The Black Demon, authentic or not, was nonetheless regarded as a badge of mysticism and a symbol of hope to the mage community. Where even Umbasa, the proclaimed creator of the new age of magic, failed to destroy the Old One, it seemed somehow another individual of far lesser power was capable of such a feat, even if it were just in a fairy tale.

It was this hope, this dismally desperate ambition, of a mere mortal reigning supreme over a god, that led the mage society to begin a new manic race to immortality. Miyuki's mentor was indeed, the most devoted canonist to the belief that immorality should be the true goal of the mage society, for with it they could remain in the realm of men and extend their prosperity across the ages.

After the mysterious events within the Yoshimizu valley, the young Miyuki Takara had never heard of her mother, her master, or her clan in any capacity for the remainder of her days until her return here, at this sorrowful time. And yet the picayune dread that captivated her innermost thoughts and reminded her of these figures and teachings had remained within her since their arrival in the shadowed lands, culminating in the realization of a horror she realized but was lax to admit until now.

The black smog that enveloped the shadowed mountains was not only a barrier to the outside world, but to the opposing magical entities of lands near and far. It didn't so much as shield the temples as it did displace them entirely out of the immediate realm of space, where they truly were, only the highest mages of her order knew.

This is the reason Miyuki knew, perhaps all along, that her clan, and the shadowed temples had never truly fallen to the demonic miasma of the Old One. No, it was their own undoing that rendered the never ending gardens of her home to the wretched state they now held, far past the boundary of sickly decay.

As the Old One consumed the world, the mages consumed themselves, apparently with the ancient demon freed, it didn't take long for the mages main hub of society to collapse entirely. Only remnants of what had truly happened within the ancient caverns and temples of the mountains remained.

Men fallen to a demonic curse, the dead rising from their very graves, the bawdy air that ached the lungs. The signs of battle shown everywhere, the haste of those who fled in the chaos, their bodies piled upon one another in a rush as if to escape the coming catastrophe.

Tomes of great wealth and knowledge blown to pieces to rid the world of their influence, or perhaps to stop lesser mages from common thievery, Miyuki didn't know, nor did she wish to.

The greatest sign of the mages clout turning to destructive error were the remnants of the people themselves, surrendered to a force beyond their insignificant understanding, to something they could never hope to control with their frail, human bodies.

Perhaps this was the immortality they had so longed for, an existence free of the hate of the world, or of the burden carried by their titles as protectors of it, a lost answer to an even more absent question. Miyuki knew one other thing, that whatever had happened to her in the Yoshimizu valley, whatever had happened to the people there, her family, and the crusaders of Umbasa, all lay at the center of the mystery.

Assuring herself that her sprawling imagination would at some point be satiated, Miyuki wasted no time in telekinetically ripping the gelatinous apparitions to pieces, raking her hands through the air, and the flailing scythe with it, and shutting her eyes to the apathetically cold tears she shed for these abject souls, yet still her kin. Any survivors fled squeamishly, cooing in defeat as they melded into the absolute black of the cavern and vanished from sight.

With her tormentors dismissed, the silently weeping magician fixated herself on the recently deceased soul at her feet, the bespectacled, straight-haired girl. However dead she might've been, Miyuki's heightened awareness of irregularities of a magical nature sensed something decidedly amiss. The body was indeed dead, the internal organs within had ceased their normal functions some time ago, but the barren void she felt permeating from it suggested a different theory.

While in training, Miyuki was forced by her mentors to be schooled in the profound idea of the soul arts, or that all living beings are inhabited by an essence of magical infusion that can be displaced, absorbed, or placed by the practitioners will. Why humans held such a considerable nucleus was never discovered by modern mages, but many theories were made regarding Umbasa and whatever she had done with the humans of her time, and how that may have throughout the ages evolved the very core of human makeup.

It was this knowledge that allowed Miyuki to realize that this girl's body was willingly separated from its soul, or not, but regardless this was the case. Instead of killing the body in the traditional sense, the body would be placed in a temporary stasis until the essence of the soul, or any soul, returned to the decaying shell. Should the soul not be returned, the body would eventually mutate into the zombie-like monstrosities the world called Dreglings.

The crisp nature of the skin, warmth of the body, and relaxed muscles gave queue that such a transformation had yet to alter the girls' body into a demonic state of being. While time was of the essence regarding every fiber of her life at that moment, Miyuki couldn't turn face to a helpless soul in need.

Cradling the girl dotingly, the doe-eyed mage smiled with content at the proposal of hope amongst the flaming, wind-torn bodies around her. Her people had destroyed themselves, just as the Old One's wrath had consumed the world twice-over, but for every misdeed perpetrated by her people, this tragedy included, she could only hold onto the hope that her own judgments might one day redeem the fallen.

The meaningful repose of reflection was halted as a wispy, salmon strand of hair swiveled past her nose and into her nostril, discharging a powerful sneeze that rung throughout the caverns in a delightful echo.

Without pause Konata was launched from her curled state of body, bloodshot eyes of anger steering themselves in the direction of the one who dared disturb her slumber. Instead of accusing the perpetrator of mental sabotage, she instead racked her brain to repair its muddied senses at the sight before her, an absurdly dainty mage nestling an unknown girl to her bosom, clasped in between the pillows of softness without hesitance.

Surrounding this scene, an exhibition of violence and confusing plot devices she was unaware of, whatever had happened here it had done so without her knowledge or consent. She grasped herself in several areas to make sure she hadn't been touched inappropriately either, everything was positioned as she remembered, nothing was amiss.

"What the hell?" Konata stuttered sleepily, yawning a tearing yawn as she allowed herself to submit to the reasoning that it was only a dream, falling backwards lethargically to the uncomfortable wet stone bed below her.

"Only a dream." Miyuki mumbled under a grousing smile, astounded it was naught but her own callous behavior that awoke her friend.

"Miyuki, shut up…your face…up…" A series of half-lidded words escaped the fidgeting knight as she rolled to her side, apparently hearing the supporting tone from the depths of her sleep.

A smile so cordial in nature there would have to be ramifications concealed Miyuki's willing frustration, she took things like this in stride if it meant the happiness of others, she reveled in it. Haste was indeed mandatory if Kagami, and this mysterious soul in her arms were to be saved of the dangers that clutched their fates so tightly, but perhaps following her own advice would suit her better for the time being.

How hypocritical she felt, lecturing Konata on the importance of resting your body like a mother to her child, when indeed she had spent many more restless nights than the Azure Knight ever had. Circumspectly she deadened her ears to the horrors of the world, if only for a brief amount of time, but not before affectionately huddling the shell of the raven-haired girl to the floor and kneeling by her side, eyes sealed in a fainted trance.

Entering a spiritual possession, she allowed her consciousness to be beset upon by some unknown saboteur, forging the pact with the entity with unspoken words as her sensibility iced to a numbed state. Life truly was just a dream, for the constantly assailed and broken mind of a mage. Only in the deepest dream state, where the lucid dreams of exulted silence produced that ever infrequent element of serendipity, could reality break through the fog.

* * *

"Ignorance is both clout and blunder for mortals; their greatest strengths and failings can be made into a most ambrosial gift, or an incompetently erected downfall. And yet this will achieved around the concept of frivolous choices is something I choose not to understand." Hardened and unfeeling were his words of choice as he relayed them to his chief pupil, and he meant as such, there was no more room for dishonest warmth in her teachings. Why this vision came to her now, in her dreams, this memory of a forgotten instance bewildered her, and yet she welcomed it with ardor.

"But is it not choice that separates men from creatures? It is that power that allows us the freedom to grow as we see fit, what gives us our clout and craving to erase blunder." Wise were her words despite her budding age. Her master took note of them, but seemed more absorbed in this own dialogue to study them at length.

"To crave is to err, to want unheedingly even after the transgression offensively is even worse. Man makes such breaches of law and sense due to not having the years to properly cast his mind forward in the aforetime preceding these incidents. And yet…were man to defy the all abiding rules of death itself, he would have infinity as his instance, and he could use such a breadth of life to learn from lapses in judgment before they even befell him." Eerily her master proclaimed in an obsessive tone, not as if it were mere speculation or hope, but foreshadowing of events to come, the student could not discern due to the absentminded tone of his voice.

"Master, you speak of…immortality? Such things are forbidden-" Aghast was her voice as the pupil began her rebuttal, but her master offered no room for argument with a forceful palm to cover her quivering lips, and a consummate answer of his intense eyes.

"Such things are forbidden by those who err, to want unheedingly. You and I are of a kind, young Takara, so unlike them. We will bring about an age of calm the likes of which mankind only dreams of, but the Old One impulsively stagnates these fantasies with its own will of never ending illusion. The seal of the Old One is deteriorating…slowly, fading…as the world will follow if it is not repaired. The immortal growth I…we, search for, will only be a possibility if this sin of man is sealed back to hell." The calm and consolatory voice her master offered made the words he spoke seem all the less distressing, and more enticing.

So regrettable was her choice, but the young Miyuki offered her resolute hand in agreement, so utterly confused by her own choice it almost brought her to tears. However the master did not weep, he grinned a devilish smirk, for his own actions would better all of mankind in their wake, with he and he alone would be proclaimed as the savior.

"And yet by my actions, for whom will sin be exonerated? Myself? Mage-kind as we know it? All living things? Perhaps even the Old One. I know you will be the one to show me."

* * *

Miyuki's hypnotic state was broken by choice, for the disturbing memory brought to her a feeling of urgency, one that did not allow her body to rest any further. For the common soul, dreams were but a perception of memories, fantasy, emotions, and sensations brought about by desire, urge, recollections or imprinting thoughts of recent events. Despite these causes of dream logic, many mages found their dreams to be more prophetic, sometimes esoterically and other times precisely.

The final statement her mentor whispered to her was not a fragment of the memory, it didn't happen at all. Baffling shards of remembrance were often subjected to fathomless contemplation in mage society, for whatever hope or ills they may bring about. As Miyuki had no scholars or confidants to confide in for the time, she had only her own mind to assist in remove the hindrance of doubt.

Something deep within this place of mysticism called to her, with such a lusting need it breached her most private of realms, her very dreams. Concerned of its temperament, how could she refuse it? Her allies vendettas and ideals could not be put off, yet neither could her desire to understand the fate of her people.

With thoughtful duty, she tore the shifting cloak from her body and fashioned it into a temporary sled, complete with cloth pulleys that would be purposefully adorned to her waist. Before working her way into the now vehicular garment, she dragged her idle companions sleeping bodies upon the ragged thing and wrapped them up like newborns, attaching the obstinately waving tendrils of cloth to her hips and wrists simultaneously.

Heaving the generous weight from her mind, she focused a spell on her body to interrupt the immediate exhaust that would be upcoming should she continue on, one that would temporarily harden her body's composition in such a way that would allow it to exert beyond its natural limits.

The charm worked agreeably, and wordlessly she began to mush along, dragging the duo of sleeping maidens behind her.

As she dragged on, strung up like a beast of burden, the silence cruelly mocked her. Its superfluous attention brought about the woes of her augural nightmare, a coming fate she could no longer avoid. The sentiments of the past all pointed towards her master being the cause of her enigmatic upbringing, and even more inexplicable life thereafter. It was that sodden man that virtually retuned her entire world to his liking, removed any and all warmth she felt during her youth in favor of rigorous training, but for what?

While she kept all but the where hidden to her companions, the true reasoning behind Miyuki's sudden knowledge of their missing companion was yet another vision from her dreams, this one of a poor bedraggled girl, wearing a face of deceit under her beckoning gaze. This dreaded being was in fact, Kagami, but it was the location that perturbed her, not the images.

Never could she mistake the hallowed halls of her youth, where arcane masters would draw hungrily from the lavish wells of magic at their disposal. Truly a place where the blind would begin to see, or the deaf would learn what it means to listen.

The coursing roots infused with denotations of magical orders carved throughout the temples, built literally into uprooted trees and underneath the very earth, this is what she saw then, and indeed what she was seeing now.

Yet the specific place where Kagami lay in her vision was unknown to her, requiring her to take a path she had not yet undergone, a hidden cavern leading far below any normal students reach. The purpose of this trench eluded her, but mysteries are but truths yet to be learned.

"I knew you would come, I had foreseen it." A voice spoke warmly in her mind, as if the emotion of tenderness should have been synonymous.

Masters of the magic arts could deafen themselves to these voices, these heralds from their mind proclaiming hope or dread. Miyuki was not that skilled however, she still had much to learn concerning spirits and in this case, disembodied voices in her head.

Dispassionately she grumbled, wishing only for the meddlesome murmur with its odd inflection to dally away hence forth, and forever more. It had stood its ground ever since she entered the temples and the now mentally strained mage knew it would not leave until confronted as per its request.

The concave tunnel around her began a steady constriction, becoming slimmer and smoother by design as it descended into strangely enough, an alluring light.

Overwhelmed by its sparkling brilliance she heeded its humble invitation, engrossing herself in its confusing color palette as she stepped into the annex of its shadow.

As her eyes adjusted to the severe beating the brilliant light gave them, she became painfully aware of the shadowed temple of her dreams, where Kagami lay, alone and perverted with clouded dusk that encircled her previous beauty.

Despite her dream, Kagami was nowhere to be found. Instead Miyuki came to see the room as a grandiose hall of dusty relics and aged grey hue, enchanted only by the torn and weathered flags draped from the ceiling ceremoniously, the Eye of the Black Demon adorning each. A series of clay pillars rested on either side of the hall, which seemed more and more elongated the more Miyuki ran her eyes down it.

Apart from these immediately noticeable features the room resembled nothing but a lavishly decorated hallway, leading to a column of stairs that in turn, led to a blinding obscurity of light, nothing more could be seen beyond it.

Yet in front of the light stood the testament of the mages immortal sin, their very immortality, a demon chained like a prisoner to the walls. It was gargantuan, and alarmingly human looking, its ashy skin wrinkled with copious aging and crawling with a spider web of bulging, black veins that had long since carried blood. The giant's body was naked aside from a loincloth of corroded, moth-eaten drapes and several bands of golden jewelry gripping at each limb, the only remnant that it was once a human.

The garb belonged to a mage, and definitely her own clan by Miyuki's notice. The same lavender patterns enhanced the brooding robe as her own had, the same thoughtful stitching of unique design for each and every student, teacher, and master.

Upon the cyclopean head of the beast, it bore a bloody handkerchief tightly gripping at its eyes, held in place by scraping barbed wire that seemed to cut into the heavily scarred skin with each movement, even though no cries of agony were heard.

The distended fingernails, chipped and broken, loosely hung from the soiled hands of the demon, threatening to fall at any moment. The pattern of rot continued to the very blade the monstrosity made its namesake, a sword that looked as if it had been lathered in smoldering magma, hardened to a gritty core, and allowed to form into a stony maul.

Casting her burden from her aching shoulders, the dauntless magician lay her companions to rest directly next to the entrance of the hall, sure of their safety.

With bathos bolstering her heart, she led herself mutely to the voices that desired her appetite for truth to be laid against their ignorance. As she approached the ensnared demon, she knew of its origin, and boldly decided to lay out a claim of cessation.

"I have come, as per your request. What do you wish of me? Because I wish only for you to die." Miyuki struggled to relay, fighting the mantic boost in her chest that would lead to tears.

The demon sat silently, carefully contemplating its next move before it wrenched its stiff neck in pain, indifferently subduing its anthropological soreness.

"To die now would be a welcome comeuppance, but I fear such a punishment would damn us both to hellfire." The blinded creature suggested equivocally, turning its head in aimless directions as if to get a sense beyond sight for the maiden before it.

Miyuki was unafraid by the beasts words, she had familiarized its presence as a father-figure in place of the one she had never known, even now, under the frenetic tone of a monster she recognized its boreal brawniness.

"I would welcome such a hell if it meant the truth, and for your pain to end…master." Grievously Miyuki begged, not saddened, but furious at the turn of events that led to the inhuman sight before her, a demon born of a man she had come to call master during her time in the shadowed temples.

"Defiant to reason as always, like a true mage would be. Don't plainly accept what is placed before you as inevitable, but strive to change the absolute end for yours, or others, benefits. Miyuki Takara, it is good to see you again." Cheerfully content was her master's response, with a tinge of grief laced within buried far too deep to perceive by all but those who had come to love him.

"Master, what happened to my mother…our people? Why…why did you do this? Were you also behind what befell me at the Yoshimizu valley? How far has your treachery spread in your quest for immortality?" Miyuki beseeched the demon for answers to a thousand questions, and knew each would come in time regardless of her stern advance, it was for this reason she belittled herself immediately after asking.

There was little deliberation required for the now immortal master of her temples, he knew of the crimes she accused him of, and to present untruths to his final pupil now, at his end, would be the very definition of poor teaching.

"I dreamed that our people might one day be redeemed in the eyes of the world for our selfish crimes, it was my only wish. If we achieved godhood, we could bring about a paramount way of life for all, peace on earth as we once knew it in times when the flowers of our temples still bloomed." Woefully her master began, passively leaning in closer to his tear-jerked student below him. "And yet our lust for this harmony came at a cost not even I could have perceived, our people, and our very way of life." He explained without much explanation at all as he had apparently distressed himself into complete silence.

"What do you mean, master?" The sorceress asked dismally, expecting anything but her preferred answers.

"The head of our order made a pact with demons…she said it was the only way to bring about the endless epoch of armistice between man, mage and demon we so longed for. I was blind to the truth…the truth that shown itself in my own dreams each night I lay to rest. The Old One did not precede mankind, we…created this beast. How or why this happened, she could not tell me, in my soiled mind I could only blindly accept her answers as truths in my despair, to this day I believe in her." Trustfully he continued, listening to every hushed breath his student returned as payment for his tale, it was beautiful to him. "The Yoshimizu valley incident was required…their people were a people that would not be missed in the grand scheme of the world, those who could be used as a sacrifice for the greater good. And you…were the scapegoat of this atrocity. The pact you made with that duo of demons, it was to save the planet, to erase the Old One's fog forever more by making that priestess of Umbasa the seal of its eternal hatred." Her master hurriedly explained in a further strained gasp, as if he was expending the last of his humanity on this final colloquy.

"I…scapegoat for what, master?" Miyuki asked urgently, noticing her former masters failing strength with each word, knowing she had little time.

"Mephistopheles was not mistaken in her intent…the sacrifice of Yoshimizu gave the duo of demons more than ample strength, more sustenance than required to seal the Old One away once more, but she did not foresee your potential of the soul, the soul arts which you used so plainly like a breath from your body. This is why you were chosen to be the catalyst that would release Umbasa's crusaders hidden strength, to allow them to claim the souls of the fallen as their own, so they could in turn bear the burden of the Old One on their shoulders and preserve mankind for all time." The account of the now age old events racked the masters body painfully with a series of grotesque phlegm-filled coughs.

"I see…and your immortality? The temples, my mother…what of them?" Miyuki urged once more for his continuation of the tale, even if it meant further harm to him physically, by this point she had ignored such things in favor of the truth, for the time being ignoring the named individual, Mephistopheles.

"Our immortality…and subsequent demise was the result of my own callous way of thinking. The pact our order's master made with demons granted us our un-death, but at the cost of our humanity. So is the punishment for fools who dare step upon the toes of the gods." He explained, suffering from his own words, and further so when he drew breath heavily for the shocking revelation he was forced to relay. "As for your mother, this was all her wish. She never told you, but…your mother was the master of our sect, the teacher of the Black Demon's will. Your mother, heartbroken as she was, used you as the catalyst for this catastrophe…knowing only one of her blood, yet pure and innocent, could be used as the tool in question." The downright deadpan vocals he provided only further showed the immense layer of guilt he wore as painfully as the barbed cloth that had destroyed his vision.

Miyuki's baffled mind numbed her tongue, abandoned its sense of worth and shut her out from any words she wished to speak, yet she would not have to.

"So this seal, it's what kept the Old One trapped, and that girl Yutaka is the seal? Try making sense why don't you." A voice of reason called from behind Miyuki, revealed to be a reinvigorated Konata boldly standing heel to heel with the demon as she approached its corrupted figure.

"Izumi-San, how long have you—" Miyuki began before she was hushed with a flattened palm to her face.

"Long enough. From the sound of things this seemed like a personal matter and I didn't want to intrude until it got dramatic enough, and well, here we are, with mister dramatic over here blaming the deaths of hundreds of people on my good friend. I thought it was a good as place as any to step in." The Azure Knight reassured, patting a heartfelt slap onto her friends sinking shoulders.

"Yes, I thought it time to interject as well. I got more than enough data for my master-student carnal relations series due to your back and forth here." Yet another voice suddenly infiltrated into the conversation, this one belonging to the black-haired maiden who was apparently not as dead as she seemed.

"But, y-y-you were dead! And now you're…what?" Miyuki stammered confusedly, earning only a shrug of the shoulders from both of her companions.

"Nah, my soul was just taking a vacation in her body over there, thanks for finding mine though! You didn't, you know…touch it inappropriately, did you?" The lecherous girl questioned almost hopefully as she nodded her finger to yet another strange individual behind her, a kind-looking priestess with golden orange hair, carrying a bloodied and dirty individual, whom the sorceress recognized as Kagami Hiiragi, albeit heavily injured.

Yet even further behind this individual, stood a group of familiar faces Miyuki was all but sure were some grief-induced mirage, including the ever doleful Tsukasa, the guard-captain of her hometown, Yui Narumi, the tanned spear-woman Misao, and that wily assassin Nanako Kuroi. Hoping to grasp some sense of the situation, Miyuki turned her attention to Konata, who only absent-mindedly shrugged once more.

"Yeah, while you were chatting it up with this veiny, monster-story reject, these guys woke me up with their bickering, heard it from a mile away, how childish right? And then a soul or something went into that dead girl's body or…I don't know, I kind of just stop questioning stuff like this anymore. Anyway, it was nothing but boring exposition anyway, right? We were all too enthralled in your emotional problems here to really bother mentioning it." Konata simply elucidated sans any actual detail, sense, or reasoning whatsoever, bringing only further confusion to the mage.

"Yeah, that was after Nanako-Chan threatened to kill me though." The mindless raven-haired girl conveyed without any dismay whatsoever, Kuroi removed herself from the crowd at the sound of her name, scratching her chin in agreement.

"It's true, I was pretty intent on killing her. Didn't really seem like the place to you know, get my assassin on though, this seemed important." Kuroi admitted to herself more than anyone, even though she vocalized it profoundly for all to hear.

"Oh and we found Kagamin, well, they did." Konata added finally as if it were something not even worth mentioning until now. "Yeah she's pretty banged up, but the priestess over there says she'll live, so I pretty much got over that in a matter of seconds. How like Kagami to almost die when I'm not there to save her sorry ass, right?" Konata muttered as she allowed herself to be lost in a world of romanticism.

Miyuki tiredly attempted one last attempt at a serious answer that she turned to Tsukasa in hopes of, but earned only barely visible giggles and blushes of embarrassment.

"Good company such as this in a journey like yours must make the journey all the easier." The now breathless master chuckled in his own amusement, wrenching his arms painfully from the walls, freeing the chains from their holds and himself from tenure as a prisoner. "But I know why you have come, you cannot hide it. You have come to destroy the Storm King, a fragment of the Old One, a portion of the seal in the hopes that you might eliminate the ageless sin once and for all…I can smell the benumbed desire within you all." Aggressively the master proclaimed, spreading his floor-dragging feet into a battle stance amongst gyrating clouds of ash and dust.

Konata was the first to step forward to acknowledge the accusations. "Yeah, pretty much. Explanations to what I'm doing and why bore me anyway, so I'm glad it looks like you've realized we've come for battle, not words. If you plan to stand in our way, this cadre of exotic women and I make you drown in your blood." Konata roared the sentence for not only the belligerent master, but any who would stand in her way that could hear its call. The reckoning spirited each companion at her back with her exuding resolve, as each and every one of them laid their steel and wits to bare against the demon. "Miyuki, I hope you have no problem with this? We attack at your word." The Azure Knight assured compliantly, awaiting the mage's command to assault one she seemingly cared for.

Miyuki's eyes fell one final time upon the face of a man she knew well, whom she may have once called a father figure. The decision was not a struggle, she had known the entire time the voice that plagued her minds begged for death, and she would be a hypocrite not to answer its call by this point.

"Master, thank you for all you have taught me, but the new way of the world has spoken. The Old One cannot remain, we cannot coexist. It must die, and if you stand in our way so too shall you!" Unflinchingly the mage proclaimed behind a monsoon of tears, menacingly curling her finger tips into proper spell formation and preparing to douse the demonic man with flames.

"No, thank you…young Takara. And may your convictions always be empowered by the inhuman strength you display now." Despite his genuine thanks and adamant grin, his first action after his noble sentiment was a swing of his crooked blade in the direction of his student, whom Konata crashed into in an effort to save her from its crushing slice that cracked cleanly through the dirt.

"Thank him after the fact." Konata insensitively claimed, although under the care of a joking smile. Miyuki did not disagree; she stood easily with her enduring resolve, and readied herself to give the order to kill.

"Show no mercy to your opponent, show him only appetite for change!" Miyuki called to the warriors at her back, who charged without hesitation at her words stabbing their swords, spears and poisoned daggers into every revealing piece of weakened sinew they could find, each laceration ejaculating a thin film of fog from the diseased innards.

The old master at last unleashed his pain within his sudden howls, seemingly grinning as he felt his body crumble beneath him, a silent thanks to both his student and death itself for finally coming to relieve him of his duty. This same oath was what bound him to his chains though, he could not escape it, he would fight until his final breath.

Shaking his broken hide he rid his body of the intruders and their steel, reciprocating the attack by blindly swinging his maul about in a rage, pulverizing the clay towers pillars around him and bringing down the very ceiling over his head. He took the pain of the gothic shards of stone that collided with his body in stride, setting aside the affliction and charging brutishly in the direction of the warriors, causing each and every one to trip, fall or be violently smacked out of the way into a nearby wall in poor Tsukasa's case.

As Yui ran to the younger twins' aid, she too fell to the flailing limbs of the blinded demon, that so unnervingly with haste collapsed against her breast-piece and send her hurdling into a pile of refuse. Carrot instantly heeded to her clerical duties and beset upon the injured Yui, gasping girlishly when she saw the knight had been knocked out cleanly. Tsukasa's mumbles of frustration at the despair of the situation, paired with an outstretched hand of assistance sent the witches servants to the injured combatant's aids.

Misao and Kuroi echoed one another's movements as they leaped into action, melding the contours of their conditioned bodies against one another, back to back, as they barbed their weapons at their foe passionately despite his disability of sightlessness.

"He can't even see us, why the hell are we prancing around like this was choreographed? What are we ballerinas?" Misao criticized with immense displeasure, gaining a heckling half laugh, half moan from the assassin, Kuroi.

"What's the point of fighting if you aren't going to look fabulous while doing it? You'll never find yourself a good man with that attitude." Kuroi related with a prepensely cynical air to her words, knowing such matters were far beyond the edge of matters Misao cared for.

In unison they catapulted from their stunted positions and twirled their tools of violence with a stinging wrath, burying the greater masses of their blades into the knees of the monk and collapsing him to his knees as planned. Almost meanly they continued their assault, dragging their blades entombed in the monsters flesh upright towards his hips, splitting lengthy strands of tightened muscle, bones as frail as an elderly man's, and unfortunately, the less than modest loincloth that covered whatever nether areas he wished to conceal.

Almost instantly a raucous, and not at all immature, release of contained laughter tore through the hall, jetting from none other than the bespectacled maiden who had just until recently been from a clinical standpoint, dead.

"Holy crap he has no nads! How does he pee? How does he…you know?" She laughed distastefully, to the point where the eliminator, Kuroi, could take no more.

"Tamura I am so sick of your shit!" Kuroi growled in understandable frustration, being heaved from her fighting position into the air by one of the capturing hands of the monk and bringing her to its unhinging jaw, where it apparently intended to eviscerate her with its now browning ivories.

Misao reacted instantly, tearing her spear from the beast's innards and jumping several meters in the air supernaturally, landing on the giant's hand, roughly her entire body length in size, and stabbing at it forcefully in an attempt to have it release her companion. The action was in vein as she desperately continued her assault to no avail, the tightened fingers would not move.

"I think he has rigor mortis! He's technically dead, isn't he?" Kuroi joked as the monster attempted to take a gracious bite out of both warriors, failing as Misao pronged her spear upwards and stuck it between each jaw line of the demons mouth, struggling to hold the gooey cavern of awful, indiscernible smells and saliva as brown as mud above her, despite her failing strength.

"I think your brain has rigor mortis! Konata, do something wonder girl!" Misao beseeched with terrible envy, feeling almost ashamed she would be forced to turn to her of all people for help, as it seemed time and time again the bluenette's uncanny ability to lend a helping hand in any capacity produced wondrous results.

Konata howled mightily from a distance, waving carelessly with a cheeky, red-faced grin as she threw herself onto one of the elephantine monuments of argil, slinking her way up the pillar like a snake until she reached its apex. "Alright, lead him over here Tsukasa!" She credulously wailed, contracting the help of quite possibly the least capable person for the job.

"W-w-w-w-w-what!?" Tsukasa shrieked and stuttered in deep distress at the notion, straining her now thoroughly whipped body diffidently in the pursuit of relocating herself indefinitely. The cause being, her hoydenish wailing had so expectedly lured the lumbering giant to her presence, perhaps just as Konata had planned.

Miyuki's far gone master began his focused march of death, spear holding his jaws apart, Misao and Kuroi in hand and all, for whatever reason his attention was forthwith drawn to the humble younger Hiragi's presence, unfortunately for the latter.

"Sweet!" Konata cheered animatedly under her breath, forwarding her beckoning to the nearest ally at hand, the magician Hiyori Tamura. "Hey, you, uh…mage with glasses! Knock this thing over quick!" She ordered vaguely, noticing a fumbling Miyuki run to her aid with a concerned expression. "Not you! Other glasses!" She fussed once more pointing to Hiyori, not even taking heed to the imminent death that awaited poor Tsukasa.

"Guys, he-he-eeeelp!" Tsukasa implored in her desperate horror, snuggling herself into a ball as the mammoth approached her with its killing intent.

Both the far greater cultivated Takara, and the flat out puerile Tamura ceased their passing confusion at the mere sound of Tsukasa's cries. On queue their bodies contorted like great mechanisms, hands curling downward and out in an attempt to channel mana, legs hardened to the ground for the much needed leverage, eyes fuming solid milk white in an effort to make contact with the forces that be. The cores of their bodies were so hot from the infusion a gentle hiss of steam drifted above them nonchalantly.

At the apogee of their séance, a cracking bolt of blinding lightning from Hiyori and a lusciously soft looking orb of flame from Miyuki rose from their bodies at in a flash, too quick for any to see. The fruits of their magical tuned labor collided with the nearby pillar Konata still stood upon, tearing it violently from the ground and by connection the decidedly mad warrior with it, surmounting against gravity's absolute dominion and zoning in on the monk's head like a colossal boomerang, doing its assigned duty as planned by splitting cleanly down his forehead and morbidly caving a fraction of the demons skull inward.

Konata's initial shellshock from the impact quickly subsided as she recalled her sense of sight, and with it, the target of her game plan within her grasp. Intently she scaled the meta-human's skull and peered inside, where a corroded slab of grey matter lay, her plan took the phrase 'use your head' to new heights.

The plan in motion, the Azure Knight prepared her vow of extent, quite possibly the eighth or ninth sword she had come to know during her time in Boletaria, and exposed it haughtily to the demon beneath her toes. "So a monster, a sword, and a loveable Konata step into a pub…I forget the rest, long story short the monster walks out with impaired motor skills!" She jeered aloof of the beasts negligent interest in her perceived comedic anecdotes, resting her silver blade deeply into the convulsing flesh of the creatures brain and jetting controlled steams of mahogany plasma in every conceivable direction.

While immediate death did not take the lumbering beast, it's now relaxed yet shockingly agitated muscles released, freeing Kuroi and Misao from their cannibalistic predicament as they gracefully landed with a feline's tact on the ground below, Konata soon followed.

In his now severely incapacitated, bumbling state, the old monks rage magnified tenfold. With the controlling rage came the unstoppable urge to collide with every object he could in a frenzy, destroying the bricked walls, the banners of silk, the pillars molded from the hands of abstract artists.

It was in this state of ultimate despair and outright helplessness that set Miyuki off once again, yet this time in unexpected fury. How she pitied the old man, now a fearsome byproduct of man's own mortal fears, but with her stalwart pity came an unsettling thought. Never had she considered hating somebody, even negatively assessing an individual without truly having known them seemed irksome to her, and yet here she felt as though hatred would be a correct use of the concept.

While the atrocities, betrayals, and stunning revelations the man spoke of still confused her, and held an air of a greater mystery, she didn't exactly need to hear anymore to be able to form a concrete reason to hate the man. He, and others, had used her and destroyed not only her life, but her people's entire modern essence; it was tainted more so now than ever before. Why was it then, that she bore him no seething emotions of any kind, in fact quite the opposite?

Her master was only a man who wished to heal the world of its pain, and distracted by his own ambitions he failed to see the disastrous end that awaited him on this path. Miyuki felt a loving admiration towards him for even attempting to redeem their people, for even trying to succeed where most would have accepted the impossibility of the task from the dawn of it.

The crimes he had committed could never be forgiven, and the lies and deceit that changed her life forever could never be erased, but it was here, at this critical moment, she knew amnesty was necessary, perhaps just to clear her own perplexed mind by doing the so called right thing.

"Master!" Miyuki harkened disconcertedly, scarcely understanding her own emotions on the matter as the dying demon momentarily interrupted its rampage at the notice of a familiar voice.

Trembling offbeat for only a brief instant, the sorceress assured herself one final time that she was doing the right thing.

"I forgive you. I forgive you for everything." Miyuki began under a heavy sob. "I believe you when you say you did the things you did for the sake of peace, and I wish to leave it at that, even if I truly believe your story to be a half-truth. Thank you for all you have taught me." Her blessing made known, the weeping sorceress knew the sound of her shaky voice would attract her teacher's aggravation, and it surely did.

The man-giant forged a path destruction and punctured earth in his wake, hell bent on eradicating the solemn gratitude regardless of whom it stemmed from, perhaps he had only held his mind long enough to be reunited with his student, the erosion may have already taken a full affect on his failing senses.

Bravely, and without a hint of indecision plaguing her, Miyuki denied herself an entrance to the border of the spirit realm, knowing this would be something that would require her own power. As her master approached she hurriedly concentrated on the very earth at her feet, telekinetically dividing a jutted pair of sharpened stalagmites from the bounteous earth as her master closed the gap.

The piercing lances of volcanic rock carved through either side of the old monks bulging neck as he approached, sprucely severing his head from his shoulders like a guillotine and sending the rotten crest flying, falling, and tumbling away behind some forgotten pile of cobblestone.

The silence following her masters inhuman wailing left a void, but it was a cleansing and uplifting feeling, she did not hate it in the least. Hand in hand she joined the silence, bathing herself in its unspoken kindness.

Not a word was spoken, not by anyone, they did not dare intrude on matters where neither their sentiments, or opinions were wanted. They would leave Miyuki be for as long as she required.

The questions left unanswered would not keep their inscrutableness forever, this the introspective sorceress knew for certain. To receive such answers would require meeting with those with the knowledge of the events, and with her master's death such a number had diminished from infinitesimal to but a fraction of that. The survivors involved in the incident as she knew of them, were only herself, her mother Yukari, Patty, an individual named Mephistopheles, and the crusaders of Umbasa, Yutaka and Minami.

When her paths with any of these individuals would come, if ever, she didn't know, but her anticipation for such a day could easily be contained for now. For now, she wished only to reflect, and to rest.

Konata struggled to disregard her grieving friend on purpose, but she managed, instead deciding to focus her attention on the increasingly ill Kagami that she hadn't had time previously to reunite with properly because of the chance meeting, and following events.

Almost shyly she approached her tsundere, a cumbersome racking of guilt weighing her down, she knew the state her friend was in was out of her hands, but she felt responsible nonetheless.

Lovingly she knelt by Kagami's side, taking her tremulous hand in her own and stroking it soothingly, gods forbid if she caused any more discomfort to her.

"Hey Kagamin…you're looking a little worse for wear. I take my eyes off you for one second and this happens, what am I gonna do with you?" Konata joked reassuringly; worrying that in her fractured state Kagami may not even be able to hear her words.

Whether or not she was aware anyone was speaking to her, none could tell, but her eyes fell on Konata's the instant they met, she was at least savvy to whom she was seeing, evident from an all but clichéd furrowed brow.

Konata disregarded the obviously facetious anger and looked to the nearby ginger-haired cleric, for assistance on the matter. Hiyori as well, didn't take long to make her presence known as she approached the two.

"She's got the Dregling infliction." Hiyori softly began, easing Konata into the reality of the situation. "Normally she'd be dead by now, but she's a fighter, she's holding on to that soul of hers something fierce." She consoled as best she could, not exactly being the chief individual to turn to in times of warmth of comfort.

The word stood out almost instantly, Dregling, she knew of them, and not just from her encounters in Boletaria either. Almost immediately she was drawn back to the days her father had vanished, where both she and Kagami had come across one of the shambling, soulless husks. Yet seeing her dear friends bared, razor sharp fangs, and eyes as yellow as the sun, she knew how the curse had befallen her. Her heart suffered almost dizzyingly, but she remained stalwart and brushed aside her judgment for the time being.

"C-Cure…?" Konata struggled to articulate, muttering only the single word that mattered, thankfully Hiyori assured her of an alleviation with an assuring series of nods.

"Yup, I can cure her." Hiyori confidently claimed, not leaving room for pessimism despite the simple nature of her assertion. "But it's gonna take a whole helluva lot of soul power to—" She began to recount as she was abruptly cut short by a jowl of repugnance from Kagami, so booming it sent all three huddlers around her aback with fright, and motioned for every onlooker in the room to behold in horror.

"K-Kagamin!?" Konata brokenly yelled, latching herself onto the seemingly possessed Kagami as she writhed almost elastically from an unknown agony.

Kagami's reciprocation to her worry was an assailing tackle sending both parties tumbling across the stone canvas, ending the roll with the Lilac Knight on top, bestial claws pronged and ready to bury them into her prey's neck. Konata stopped her at the last possible second as she recovered from her awe, booting her suddenly demented friend from her form and launching her onto her buttocks several feet away.

"Kagamin…" Konata whispered once more beneath adrenaline elicited gasps, hoping to break through to whatever delusion she had found herself trapped within.

Kagami reacted to her name humanly, but just as inhumanly wiped away the recognition with a series of saliva flushing chokes and wheezes. This final sputter of humanity took hold of her, and allowed her the clarity needed to vacate herself from those she cared deeply for; she would do anything to avoid harming them in the thick of her madness. She stumbled once, twice, before she regained momentum and sprinted from the room united with an aria of infernal, philistine cries.

She vanished behind the gleaming wall of light Miyuki's master had guarded, and Konata did not concede to the despondence the turn of events so heartlessly lay before her.

Not a thought, not a word nor objection, plan or any other measure of constructive sense would stall her impulsive and immediate action to race after her Kagamin; she would not lose her a second time.

A menagerie of cries and halts and criticisms of her foolishness erupted behind her from many voices and opinions, yet she was oblivious to them, her body wouldn't have stopped even if she willed it to.

She nearly crashed into the heavenly glow of the white, gaseous door after Kagami, feeling its sapping, dire disposition jolt her foundation strand by strand, such a mixture of ataractic euphoria that brought about unprecedented calm, and the inescapable torment she felt collided into a sensation she figured was not unlike being born. In the sense that there was dark, then light, followed by pain, and finally warmth, each emotion filled her as she passed to other side of the gate where she prayed her beloved Kagami would wait for her, enduring her dolor as concisely as possible.

For Konata held no doubt in her heart that by her words, or by her blade, Kagami would be free.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm back, again. Here's a 16K word chapter for you. I won't begin to make excuses for my absence, but this story is going to be completed one way or another. Mark my words.


	23. Life

**Lucky Souls**

* * *

**Chapter 23: Life**

You cannot be responsible for salvation until you've first been responsible for sin. Mistrust was Konata Izumi's first sin, apprehension of her own values and fatuous actions and inactions. How bold, or perhaps callow, would she have been to trust in her own ways unflinchingly without even consulting her own heart on the behaviors she enforced?

And yet now, by the weight of her own actions and inactions crushing down upon her, she doubtlessly desired a second chance to trust in herself. Regardless of the supremely juvenile nature of it, she truly wished for a second chance to adhere to a far more unknowing way of mind. Had she only acted, instead of listened, contrary to every wisdom-filled advice she had ever received, the contrary result now shown through miserably.

Listened she had, and it nearly got all of her friends killed. Dubious of her own will, she defied them arrogantly, knowing her own way of thinking had come to bring nothing but misery on others. How she wished she could reverse such a sentiment though, how she prayed the results of a more profound nature of thought had not lead to the calamitous situation she now found herself in.

How could she ever trust in herself when such lies clouded her reality? Lies seemed to mingle with her very cells by this point, lies concerning who she was and what she truly wanted. To trust is to know, and she knew yet defied that trust, how foolish she was.

The abhorrent, uncaring evils of the world had now plagued one she cared for passionately, absolutely and without even a hint of consideration. This love was what now allowed her mistrust to be washed away with the foul voices in her head, the ones that battered her heart and dulled her bladed mind.

Poor Kagami, stricken with the Dregling illness, the one Konata suspected she was responsible for, and it seemed far too late to intervene on fate's contrivance at this point. The Dregling had eluded her, found and attacked her, and as quickly as she came, vanished back into the shadowed lands she had firstly disappeared into. With the death of Miyuki's master, it seemed as if at last she would be reunited with the lost child, only to again be abandoning her duty, and friends, in merriment of her selfishness, in search of the retreating Kagami.

And unfortunately, she'd need all the adroitness she could manage to locate Kagami in the labyrinthine maze of assorted works of ancient men outstretched before her. The development of the shadowed temples breadth had apparently persisted in their expansion to the very crest of the cliff sides and bluffs that extended outward to the sea.

A genesis of theological markings adorned the collection of box-shaped mosques and ripe, musty temples, most of which followed a pattern of thickened pillars cradling timeless slabs of stone roofs. The chapels and stations of worship had lessened in purity, decrepit and morbidly overgrown by thickets of browning, dead weeds and vines, which only seemed to add to the primeval charm of the holy grounds.

Asceticism was apparently practiced even while in rest, for the temple grounds contained dozens of dormitories for young, unmolded minds and sculpted teachers alike, burned by long doused flames and toppled by the winds of time. Yet despite a chronicle of destruction the stained glass windows, exquisitely crafted in the shapes and forms of the Black Demon's scriptures and oaths, stood as endless testaments in the afterglow.

Nary the only survivor of the Old One's miasma were the embroidered exemplifications of mage-kind's wills, flags made in earnest colors of lavender and gold, that swung carelessly in honor of a dead people. And for every shredded flag of various magician clans that hung overhead, conjoined by dulled copper poles atop the doorway of every dilapidated temple building, Konata continuously mistook their swaying movements for an agile Dregling, her Kagami lost amongst this wreckage, and it sent shivers down her spine with each merciless chortle of the breeze that sent these colors afloat.

Indeed these minor existences of chromaticity bore the only coloration within an otherwise achromatic environment. Faded, dusty grey buildings against the backdrop of equally preserved, and darkened stormy clouds certainly didn't exude the same display of pride and whimsy as the fluttering flags.

Yet these semblances of structures that once were offered her no hope in her search. While certainly any of their cobweb infested furniture of wood or stone carven crawlspaces would be a cloak enough to conceal, often times the last place would one look would be in the most obvious place, for fear of being far too obvious. It stood to attest that instead of searching these countless labs and dorms, Konata should instead focus her moxie towards invading the grandiose church that rose above all around her.

Peaking high above the amassed students of old, prophetically and warmly hung above their heads day by day, would've been the very colossal church towering at the center of the plateau. It stood tall, steeples wrought by the blackest iron that scraped the chins of the low-hanging clouds swirling about its spires of tarnished metals. The entire church seemed to be towers built upon towers, columns and rows of the things, stapled to the sides, front, back, and even sprouting from one another like misshapen growths.

Less of a structure and more of a statement of art, the church held no conventional walls of any kind, its appearance was more like the frame of a prototype for the divine castle that would eventually be. No supplements of wood or stone to be seen, simply a composition of dazzling, pulverized gems, flattened into sheets of ruby, emerald, amethyst, and the darkest, deepest azure. Were the sun's rays shining behind the blanket of cold, grey clouds overhead, surely the building would've been resplendent, perhaps even blinding.

Konata urged herself to the monolith, admiring the ambiguously exorbitant height, so daunting, nestling a perfect shiver of awe down her shoulders as she admired the beauty. Yet such a material elegance was not what she desired, so she shut herself out from the chapel's blooming radiance, pushing past the broken inward doorway and into a vast, remarkably vacant chamber.

No pews for comfortable worship, no altars to make offerings to the divine, no scriptures artistically rendered on the walls, indeed, the entirety of the inner sanctum seemed bereft of any and all architecture despite being so alluring externally.

Instead, only humble alignments of kneeling cushions, patterned in rows, abandoned next to now dusty and empty sinner's bowls. Konata couldn't help but wonder if perhaps before the plague of the miasma, the sanctum was perhaps, more bountiful and less startlingly humble, but on the other hand, it only made her search all the easier. Fewer distractions abound certainly provided more advantageous to hunting a specific entity, in this case, that which she sought was easily seen amongst the veritable nothingness.

For as her weary legs came to a halt, she bore witness to the very epitome of what she considered life's unforgiving loathing towards all who find themselves on its path.

Kagami, her love, curled to the ground like a tree bent by harsh winds, snarling like a cornered, injured beast at its end. Her once beautiful eyes had yellowed with demonic rot, shining like the gleam beget from coins under the suns breadth. The pulsing veins beneath her fleshy body had hardened to a black stall, pressing toughly against her graying skin in an effort to escape the ragged prison.

The luscious mane of violet that once adorned her head was now rattled with filth and hung down over her shoulders like a veil. The self offered sacrifice, the split down her chest, still hung open grotesquely in a splendor of still beating and functioning organs, her survival despite this grievous injury was surely only because of her newfound demonic blood.

And all around the demon, cascading their colorations upon her person, the gem infused walls and windows reflected their light tints upon her, spot-lighting the horror despite the victim's shame and attempt to hide it away. It was perhaps unfortunate, that all other buildings abounds surmounted by the mighty church seemed so dilapidated, free of roofs and windows, thankfully overcome by timely shrouds. There was no such case here, no shadow of the clouds to hide Kagami's hideous, demonic appearance, the church seemed only to emblematize it as the sin it was.

"Kagamin." Konata whispered helplessly, reaching an assisting hand out in her grief as she stumbled towards the girl, only for the monstrous Kagami to bat it away with a sharpened claw, and a low-toned growl.

Again some semblance of faculties took hold of the unstable Kagami, and she offered a subtle awareness of this with an irresolute, struggling scowl. Almost forcefully, she pushed herself away from the azure knight, charging forward for several steps before again collapsing through a pile of refuse, burying her hand beneath her quivering hands in shame as she prostrated herself before the forgotten god's temple walls.

"Kagami, it's alright." The bluenette pleaded once more, praying her imploring words would pull her friend from the maddening pit she found herself within. "You don't have to be afraid, I'm going to help you, okay?" However sure Konata's tone, the heavy weight of her words offered a declining, pathetic strength, she scarcely believed them herself.

"It isn't alright…" Kagami groused with pain, her demonic tongue already taking hold, her voice was reminiscent of an echo. "Konata…" Struggling she began again with an artificial chuckle. "I need you to know I don't…I don't blame you. I never blamed you for anything…" She appealed with sorrow, shakily standing to her feet before caving downwards thanks to a crippled knee.

"How stupid." Konata expressed with a soothing smile, strutting over to the demon and taking her friends gnarled claws in her own soft, human hands and affectionately unifying them. "Everything that's happened to us is my fault, even this…what's happened to you. My own selfishness caused everything; I wouldn't be surprised if my dad left because of me too." Feebly she considered, and yet chastely revealed a hint of hope that this was not so.

Kagami couldn't help but entertain a confused laugh, at the expense of more strained, hurtful gasps. "Now who's acting stupid? Oh, oh, oh god…" Her laughter subsided with a spark of pain from her severed chest, how fate mocked her by this point, not even allowing a simple laugh. "Please oh…Konata please, just end this one way or another. I-I'm not the type to just accept a death as dramatically ironic as this…we're supposed to be demon slayers, haha…ugh…" Another trace of branching pain throughout her exposed cavity cut her sentiment short, this time with a blood-splattering cough that painted itself across Konata's shirt.

"You askin' me to slay you, Kagamin?" Konata mindfully ignored her now patterned clothing, and ended on a joke as per usual. For a brief instant she considered that she had done so only to calm her friend in her dying moments.

"Slay? No stupid I mean free me from this curse! You resort that quick to killing me, how narrow-minded can you get…? Agh…huh, I mean, I couldn't even kill myself, maybe that's a sign that I'm too stubborn to die, especially with so much left unsaid and done." Kagami complained mockingly as she dropped to the dust, Konata in tail, nuzzling her now exquisitely aching skull into Konata's lap, and from this the pain was brought with a bearable bliss, a distraction from her impending death.

Konata reacted surprisingly aloof to the shockingly loving gesture from her perpetually angry little friend; perhaps the sense of doom or process of demonification had placed her in a mild delirium. The tender regard was of course, reciprocated with ardor. A brush of a stringy bit of lilac hair here, a caress of a muddy cheek there, Konata knew what it meant in this moment to care for one another absolutely, a fathomless love which words themselves could not define, a feeling expressed but never labeled.

In her near-death state, Kagami didn't notice the subtle gestures of enamored zeal from her friend, something Konata for the first time ever, had thanked the gods themselves for. How foolish would she be to spill her desires and feelings at this moment, in the heat of carnage and flush obscurity regarding the poor girl's survival, a sentiment that would be far too late to mean the lifetime of warmth she coveted to express.

"It's too late for me, isn't it…?" Kagami breathed helplessly, her once beautiful voice now barely discernible hidden beneath the hellish vocals of a demon, it almost sounded male to the ear.

However shaken she was in her own beliefs, or furious at herself for the result of them, her answer could not have wavered less in hopeless tenacity for the one she loved. "It's never too late." Konata reassured, leading her heaving fingers ever closer to her friends sweaty forehead.

The comforting stroke was stopped, cruelly, by the virus that exonerated her dying friend of free will, and bound her fealty to the lords of hell it served. It exploded from Kagami's gaping mouth in a rush of gunning wind, lifting Konata abysmally to the sky, and back down again harshly into the stony mosque stone floors at her feet, Konata screeched in begrudging pain as her body collided powerfully against them, and she hoped Kagami had not seen, nor heard her weakness.

As she stood, she knew the unfair truth, that the woman she loved was truly gone by own her culpability, a self indulgent desire to grow. Sliding droplets of blood down her swollen, lacerated face masked her agony, she had broken, and with the exhaustion of her strength came the grief-filled hysteria that had been burrowing, and poisoning her heart with its blight ever since her friend had vanished into the shadowed lands.

Kagami stood with her, almost boastfully under the authority of the demonic parasite, her teeth shown viciously in a gritted, toothy grin, twinkling under the faded tint of the church steeple's glossy reds and blues. Her mind, however adamant, was wiped clean by this point, only the Old One's influence remained in the hollow crust, it had seduced another with its reason of power where only consummate bearers of force would reign.

Steadily, and without any regret, Konata reached for the blade on her hip, notched with the cracks and scrapes of countless battles, and presented it to its next casualty, the former remnants of Kagami Hiiragi. Her blood-stained cheeks stung from the drying liquid, yet such pains, like the immense, crushing hurt she felt within, were only reminders of the job that needed to be done. The Old One could not remain, with change comes cost, sometimes even sacrifice, and the precursor of agony, enmity, and metempsychosis of the planet itself demanded such losses as tribute to its divine wish.

"I'll set you free." Konata promised, a pledge honor-bound by her contrition, and wholly by her desire for the woman once known as Kagami. She could not bear to see her in such a state of involuntary decree, for a proud will like Kagami's would never allow subjugation to another's fractured whims, the law of pride was the only rule her tsundere had ever known, and with the isolation came the sturdy power she knew she could rely upon. The demonic presence ridiculed a dear doctrine to her friend, a crime Konata would not forgive.

Konata practically threw herself at her cursed opponent, rashly tearing her blade through the air upwards in an arc, and down with a mighty force in an attempt to cleave through the Dregling's shoulder. The attack failed almost as expected, with the former human grabbing the blade with her now abnormally thickened hands, removing the threat from her field of vision and the swords-woman attached to it in a herculean throw that would make the Olympians of mythos envious.

Konata felt her flailing body suddenly cradled mid-air, silently thanking the untimely arrival of her ally's, specifically the nimble Misao that had caught her. The duo landed, separated and adjoined in battle stances, the rest of the company at their back with weapons and grim expressions drawn with haste. It seemed they had concluded a similar line of thinking like she, that the ominous church was certainly the first place to pervade in search of a sinful existence such as a demon.

"Dammit Hiiragi…" Misao mourned under her breath, regretting at this moment ever keeping the infected girls secret, regardless of her haughty claim to handle it.

"Onee-Chan…" Tsukasa predictably, was bristled with frustration at the sight, yet unexpectedly held no tears, only fright and awe. "W-What's wrong with Onee-Chan? Why is she…what's going on!?" She demanded to know, almost begged, for clarity on her sibling's possession.

"Dregling." Konata flatly answered, despite the dour moment, so beside herself with grief the plucky adventurer within could nary be seen at all. "It's too late, isn't it Hiyori?" She echoed the question presented to her by Kagami despite her earlier hopefulness, perhaps she believed it too.

Hiyori couldn't lie to herself as she inspected the damage before them; bleak was the only word that came to mind. The transformation had already warped nearly every aspect of the girl's body, and mind to its hellish vagary. The only cure for most infected to such a point was steel, a medicine nobody here would likely be willing to administer. At the prospect of slaying an ally the passing desire did not take her. Nor could it for one such as her, an individual who was usually late in all things, just enough to dine on the banquet of consequences and allow her aching belly to sterilize her mind, making it awash with careful consideration. Perhaps to Hiyori, it seemed easier to assess countermeasures to the error not preceding, but after the tragedy had already begun.

"There is an immeasurable distance between late, and too late." Hiyori began whimsically, her carefree smile off putting at a time such as this. "We are always far from too late. I told you she can be saved, and she can, the only way we will fail is if you lose hope." Hiyori added with energy, much needed reinvigoration to everyone's faltering courage.

"Tamura's right." The assassin, Nanako Kuroi chipped in. "I fought side by side with this kid before, she's no pushover. Let's bring her back to us with a smile on our faces, alright? All this gloomy stuff is wiggin' me out." However childishly her sentiment ended, it too, brought hope back to Konata's heart that her friend might be saved.

Hiyori pushed herself out of the group and offered a comforting hand on the Konata's shoulder in agreement. "Aye, but we'll need one huge soul to do it." With her words, as if it was destiny that she spoke them, the ground began to shake beneath all, heralding a terrible storm overhead.

The preeminent furor wrought from the storm began to violently wrack the vulnerable church, safe for over a decade from destruction despite the dark context of the shadowed lands; its safety began to crumble like the glassy components it was built from. The gusto of the wind itself bore enough potency to topple apparently delicately secured walls and tiles, tearing them from neglected bindings and shattering each upon the mosque's chamber floors.

Through the substitute windows and sky roofs could be seen the ascended one of the shadowed lands, its watchful protector, willingly or not.

The master of the winds, skies and torrents themselves, the Storm King. The monumental sky-ray had apparently appeared suddenly from somewhere below the cliff face the church sat upon, it's very appearance bothered nature itself, the clouds above rumbled and twirled with gust in fear of their lord.

Still like before, it was a monument to the complexity of life, an imposingly immense manta ray that swam not through water, but the air. The menagerie of follicles adorning its breast, a swathe of tinier manta spawn, still clung in adoration of their lord who provided them a warm home, and an indomitable guardian.

They wove themselves between goliath strands of clingy filaments and spreads of endless shiny, grey scales. Making perch from the vertically split chrome of the demon to the backside where that same spindly, rat-like tale wiggled and waved. And still did the stunning length of the creature's wings evoke within the adventurer's a sense of insignificance, their distance across covering at least a humble mile.

And as the Arch-Fiend wickedly flapped its monstrous wings, the dead trees dotting the plateau rocked under the immense pressure of wind the demon's flight gave way to, and seasoned rocks tightly stapled to the earth tore from their homes and were sent flying aimlessly. The withered temples and dormitories collapsed and disintegrated, having finally given way to time with the not so gentle aid of the continuously generated hurricane beget from the manta.

The beast called from above, cheerlessly, likely unwillingly, its mind eroded by the Old One to a point of no return. It did not revel in the job of Arch-Demon, nor did it wish death on the warrior's below, buts it mind was now driven by instinct like any other common beast of the wilds. It saw prey, those that would do harm to its kin, and its home, and it would stall their plans to the last breath.

"That'll do." Hiyori peeped unnervingly, eyeing away from the inescapable monstrosity for a brief instant to survey a plan of action in her surroundings, it didn't take long for one of perceived superior intellect. "Alright, Konata, and useless-in-a-fight captain of the guard, with me. Everyone else, distract that air…sea…monster, as long as ya can. Don't be afraid to you know, take a stab at killing it either." She directed with a leader's confidence, sending half of their party on their way out of the ramshackle church as Yui offered a most displeased glare.

As the newfound alliance set forth to fell the demon, a straggler loomed unsure of herself, Tsukasa had to make absolutely sure her friend's nerves were steeled.

"Kona-Chan…you…you will save her, right?" Tsukasa pessimistically probed, hearing the abysmal nature of her voice almost made her cringe, when did she lack such confidence in even her most trusted confidants?

"If I don't I'll have hell to pay when I meet her in the afterlife, won't I? And I really don't need any more bruises. Trust me, I'll do my best, now get going…Miyuki and the others will need you." Konata regarded the insecure tone of her voice, even with words so reassuring. She couldn't quite be sure of anything anymore, and promises made blindly would only lead to disappointment.

Tsukasa was easily subdued by the 'better than nothing' answer; any shred of hope would be enough to leave her content during these most hopeless of times. She begrudgingly turned her back on her friend, and her demonic sister, leaving both of their fates in the hand of their pint-sized leader.

A surprise clap from Hiyori replaced Konata back into the realm of action, where her Kagami was waiting for her.

"Alright, we subdue her, don't kill her. It's alright to injure her, even grievously; the soul from that beast in the sky will be more than enough to placate even the nastiest wounds." Despite the careful instructions, Hiyori couldn't help herself when she purposefully eyed the knight Yui. "Should be easy with you, since you apparently can't kill anything today. Not Kuroi, not that blind old demon, aren't you supposed to be some sort of warrior?" Acerbically she asked despite the ever playful tone, she certainly didn't want an accident at a time such as this.

"That blind monster back there just jumped me, I didn't see it coming!" Yui argued for her dignity's sake, unsheathing her pristine blade. "I'll show you that nobody that shares the blood of an Izumi is useless!" She swore, ushered with a haughty grin, and a set of brazen eyes that somewhat dutifully fell on her cousin, a hint of aplomb for one in need.

"Yui…" Konata thanked without openly saying so, only hoping the knight could see the acknowledgement of appreciation in her growing grin. "Glad you came, speaking of…what're you even doing here?" Realizing only now that her cousin's sudden appearance made less sense than she'd of liked, she thought it time to ask.

"Tell ya later, she needs you." Yui advised with a knightly authority, a charge her cousin took enthusiastically. Hiyori found herself swept up in their jubilation as well; she didn't doubt they could do this.

"Kagami!" Konata announced confidently, gaining the demon's attention as she kicked a random sword, likely that of a previous adventurer, littered upon the ground to her waiting hands. "I'm sorry, this is going to hurt, but I promise I'll do everything I can to make sure it doesn't last any longer than it has to." The bittersweet oath brought to her an unnatural vigor, despite her battered and weary body.

The ancient dust below her, molded together in lengthy fractures from a decade of misuse crunched appropriately beneath her feet, her purpose could not be stilled by the earth, nor the squeezing winds swept from the Storm King's wings, nor the seething delusion and fear in Kagami's eyes.

Konata nearly rocketed from her standby battle stance, hovering mid-air for a brief instant as her small legs took strides well beyond their means, and her speed reached its peak.

Her blade folded itself in the momentum, bringing with it a deadly crushing force as she curled it upward, ever higher past her head, and downwards once again, using her opponents distracted behavior to benefit her assault. It proved advantageous as planned, when the finer point of her sword swept into Kagami's shoulder, down her side, and out of the wound, leaving with it a mural of the girl's blood hidden beneath her shadow.

Yui's attack followed suite, puncturing through the child's measly armor with her sword and splitting it into her shoulder clear out of her back, rendering both arms useless as nerves, blood vessels and muscles were torn apart inside the girl's body.

Kagami did not scream in agony, the usual otherworldly wail of a Dregling was not heard either. Instead a curdling, pathetic squeak of pain as a jet stream of blood sprayed from her throat. However monstrous she may have been in mind, physically, her cheeks were still reddened by abundant tears, the pain was surely immense.

Yet the heart-breaking sight did not stall Konata, alternatively it seemed to bring about within her an air of doubtlessness, it seemed her friend was still closer to the human side than that of a demon, she wouldn't last forever under the fever of lacerations and bloody blisters.

However, demons were the epitome of strength, the perfect example of those who rise above their piers to survive in a battle of the fittest. To survive, a demon must adapt, and it must be able to do so utterly and without restraint, lest it be devoured by its brethren. As a demon now, Kagami was no different, and her body acted instinctively to the aggressors in her face, and violently.

Her now gnarled, and almost root-like hands snatched the throats of the cousins, lifting them in the air effortlessly and slamming their heads together forcefully, finishing the rattling attack by throwing both of the warriors abruptly downward into the dirt, leaving indentations of their forms within.

A follow-up attack was guaranteed, and Yui foresaw this, rolling her throbbing body onto that of her younger cousin's and shielding both of them with her enormous kite shield, rigorously holding onto the handle when she felt the pulverizing blows of the demon on its glossy surface.

Hiyori did not waste her reprieve, as she had just finished a malicious incantation written in her own blood on the ground below her, illustrated as a series of smaller circles within a larger circle, the full design almost resembled a smiling face. She dropped to her knees to get at level with the magical seal, and placed her hands on it before muttering a few necessary words, sneering when she saw the fresh blood begin to coagulate into a solid string before hardening.

The final product almost resembled a bo staff, or a spear without the tip, luckily a bladed edge would not be needed. She ushered for the seemingly mindful essence of bodily fluids and magic to bend to her will, and spearhead itself in Kagami's direction, which it did without warning.

The blood-staff approached its target with a velocity aimed to kill, but forthwith stalled its own progress as it reached mere inches, melting from its rigid body again into a sopping messy puddle, which slowly but surely slithered its way up the Dregling's ankles.

Yui took note of the mysterious magic and heaved her cousin under her arm, removing both of them from the immediate area as their enemy took the time to curiously inspect the weavings of blood like a child.

That same eager curiosity came back to bite her when the blood suddenly hardened again, squeezing itself painfully around the girl's ankles and holding her in place. She struggled to break free, or to take a step, but found she could not move from her now planted position, the blood had seeped even below her through the paved floor of the church, rooting her to the ground like a sapling. In fact, the normally copper liquid seemed to fade into a darker brown, and crack and age like the bark of an ageless tree.

"Perfect, that oughta hold her." Hiyori declared to her allies, noticing their slowly fading smiles as the snapping sound of branches and the tugging of earth could be heard. The mage watched with a furrowed brow as her hard work went to waste; she only had enough juice for one of those as well. "Or not…plan B."

* * *

Brushing past the curdling of identical shelves of cube dormitories, and into the narrow alley ways that webbed between their expansion, Tsukasa, and what remained of her escaping troupe sought the end of the stony hedge maze. At last they noticed a derelict passageway at the center of two abnormally large, vacant structures that seemed to lead to the cliff sides.

Passing through the detestable passage, and horrifically a multitude of dusty bones, the group reached the edge of the shadowed lands, a peaked climax of stone that led to the endless oceans themselves. Not twinkling under the daytime sun, the sea looked green and sickly, raging tempestuously against the conglomerate of crags and jutting stones that broke free from the depth of the low tide.

Above them circled their target, a very cranky Storm King, bellowing like a whale from the heavens above as it fluttered about in search of whatever devilish force it felt dripping with malice from below.

But perhaps the malice did not necessarily extend from their hands, for from her back, Tsukasa could've sworn she felt an ominous rustling of unnamed things; she turned to face nothing, and decided against chancing a second glance in favor of the spectacle of life before them.

"I don't think even Misao with her ability to defy gravity can jump that high." Kuroi downwardly, and rightly, said as she motioned towards her allies to take in the spectacle that was the Storm King, slowly but surely gliding overhead, singing its song of doom.

"We could call it ugly; maybe it'll take the bait?" Misao joked shamelessly, noticing that the more humble members of their troupe did not even smile at her comment, Carrot especially, seemed deeply troubled.

In her despair, the cleric Carrot stepped forward to make her will known. "The creature is in such pain…I can hear it crying out. Even if it must die…may I at least sanctify it before we do so? It seems almost evil to let such a wonder die like a demon." Her wishes fell on deaf ears; no response was given aside from a knowing glare from Misao, who wished only for the saint to discover the foolishness underlying her kind words.

"No." Sorely the drudge Misao miffed without any room for backtalk, but the priestess did not heed her words, instead only bowing her head in admiration of the great sky manta.

Amidst the chanting of Carrot's prayers, a stuttering, and distinctly frightened voice called in a series of mumblings from behind the group, and knowing full well who it was they turned to nurse another bloodless wound of the doughty Tsukasa.

However instead of coddling the girl in her grief, the cadre of warriors found themselves the victims of a despondent ache, at the site of the usually peaceful Tsukasa with an arm choked around her throat, shaking violently in fear at the assailants at her back. Tsukasa regretted not trusting her gut, which so rightly sensed imminent danger in the form of a duo of assailants, whom Miyuki instantly recognized.

"Yutaka? Minami?" She whispered, praying the crusaders were in a talking type of mood. "What are you…" The protest ended with complete rejection as the bruiser of the crusaders, Minami, tightened her grip around the younger Hiiragi's neck, her face still as stoic as ever even in such a heated moment.

"I don't want to hurt her, I dislike violence. Please, for m'lady's sake and for the sake of this girl…do not harm the Storm King. You know not what you do." The crusader of Umbasa, Minami, argued so flatly it came off as more of a statement of what would happen, and less of a wisely taken suggestion.

Misao was the first to press herself forward with her weapon pronged, her teeth gritting and eyes seethed with fury. "Maybe not, but I know damn well what'll happen to you if you don't let her go!" She commanded with a rage bordering on hysteric.

The display of aggression almost seemed too much for Minami's staunch companion, the sickly Yutaka shielded her eyes from the sight, her face contorted as though she were ready to throw up.

"Minami-Chan, at ease." Yutaka began, placing herself forward on a pedestal as to be the attractive prospect of the conversation, despite her enemy's companion's safety at risk. "Please, warriors of the Monumental. I urge you to listen to what I have to say, I pray that you will, because you must know the truth." Yutaka's urgings continued to the point of begging, in spite of her lapsed existence and terrible demonic powers, the offered glances of grief were decidedly human.

"Screw that!" Misao snarled back at the proposal despite their group's lack of a proper bargaining chip, but a cooler head amongst them silenced the drudge with a slap to the back of the head, a tightly stitched and leathered glove of Nanako Kuroi.

"Continue." Kuroi civilly interrupted, allowing the god-fearers to make known their intentions with properly behaved dispositions on both sides. The assassin figured there was no reason to draw blood if it wasn't needed; most disagreements are usually settled with a few choice words and a dash of grace.

"Thank you." Yutaka reciprocated the charm delightedly, motioning for her comrade to alleviate her fastened choke of the girl in her arms as to not harm her, only constrict her. "I see there are more of you this time, I was unaware the Monumental had such a…colorful array of servants at its disposal. As such, I feel introductions are again required. I am Yutaka Kobaykayawa, the sixth saint of Umbasa, the last of many disciples of the prickling rose. And this is my loyal servant, and greatest friend, Minami Iwasaki of the clan Garland." She formally reintroduced for the ignorant and the savvy, doing her best to turn away from the unnerving animosity stemming from her enemies of circumstance.

"Get on with it!" Misao hurled another hasty order the fidgeting priestess' way, who rather childishly gripped her taller protector's hand in slight fear at the booming voice. Even undead, and commanding a power well beyond natural warriors, Yutaka seemed to still hold a gentle innocence about her.

Beyond her anxiety the sixth saint steadied herself for another verbal assault, and even likelier a bladed one, this conversationalist proved to be much more impatient than the last. She wished that same child, Konata Izumi, was again speaking to her in a compassionate tone, regardless of her belief in the same heretical views as her missing father.

Impossible to ignore, she heard the girl with her paranormal ears, noisy and courageous slamming steel against dirt more than flesh, fighting a barely visible opponent in the distance along with several others within the collapsing remnants of a nearby crumbling church. They could be seen as thin specs through the patterned holes throughout the broken walls. Yutaka couldn't recognize the other three figures, only Izumi with her inconspicuously blue hair.

"That is Izumi, yes?" Yutaka questioned to the much more humble Kuroi this time instead of the slave, sighing with relief when Kuroi clapped a hand over Misao's mouth to prevent her from firing another missile of hatred.

"Aye." Kuroi answered cautiously, not wishing to divulge any more information than they had to, but from the saint's correct affirmation of her, it seems she already was aware of Konata's existence anyway.

Yutaka powerfully opened her mouth, seemingly to make a point requiring a stern voice, but it failed her. She seemed uncertain of what to say, but such indecisiveness was unbefitting of the last of her sect, and with Minami's hand warmly holding her own, she could have no insecurities.

"She is strong; she truly seems to believe she can destroy the Old One…" Yutaka almost whispered half in wonder, her defenses completely laid bare as her half-lidded eyes watched the Azure Knight at work, unflinching and placid even with her amateur sword work and hopelessly sunny disposition.

Miyuki's eyes followed the saint's to her companion, still struggling against the demonic Kagami, finally making her presence known as she pushed ahead of her allies. "And…how do know she cannot? You said the people of this world cry out for the Old One to remain, and that without it the world will be undone. What did you mean by this?" The magician Miyuki questioned confusedly, still haunted by the duo's words in their earlier encounter.

Yutaka again faltered, but quickly regained her composure, opting for a visual representation to aid her case. She bent down to the shifting dirt at her feet, sullying the cuffs of her pure white robes as she scooped a large clump of soil. She lifted the ancient patch of ground, holding it upwards to the sky to allow the few baby sprouts within to obtain some much needed nutrients.

"Life." Yutaka breathed peacefully, smiling almost hopefully at the sight of a skittish bug moving around within the soil.

Minami nodded at her master's words, running a finger thoughtfully against the leaf, allowing the clingy trail of sticky due along her armored finger to fall to the ground as she began to explain. "Life cannot exist without the proper sustenance. All things require this necessary force to live. Plants nurse from the mother Earth and sky themselves, animals feed on the flora and fauna, and sometimes even the usually docile plants reverse this role. All beings use this nourishment to breathe life into the cells of their very bodies, and even deeper lays an intricate network of life that provides its influence so that all things may exist. This planet is a monumental collection of life, feeding on one another, coexisting, cycling and replenishing and growing…and so it must learn to adapt to all foreign matter that invades this perfect balance, lest the entire chain be undone." Minami finished long-windedly and ambiguous in definition, no closer to revealing the truth than she was before they had begun, Misao noticed as expected.

"Meaning…" Yutaka interrupted, noticing the tiny shrub had begun to twitch disturbingly, being far better off growing within the dense atmosphere of the Old One's fog than the magnificent rays of the sun that barely skewed through the overcast. At this warning, she quickly tucked it back into its hole, beaming when it again controlled its temperament and began to feed. "The Old One is this foreign matter, for endless eons it has saturated the planet with its filth, weaving its hellish will into the very earth, into the air we breathe, and even we humans." Still mysterious were her words, but the implications they brought seemed to severely impact the souls she spoke to, their eyes were glued to her in fright.

Gravely, Minami's hardened battle stance seemed to melt at her master's words, the weight of them proved too much even for the stoic knight. "Despite what many myths claim, there was a time this world survived without the Old One's authority over its nature, but that period has long passed. The world has evolved; it can no longer sustain itself without the Old One's demonic influence. If the Old One dies, so does this planet…the plants will wither, the creatures will starve, the cells will die, and the chain will be undone." The knight of Garland, Minami, ended absolutely, and with her words it seemed she, this time, required the strength of another as she squeezed Yutaka's tiny hand in her suffering.

"Indeed." Yutaka began again, removing her hand from her knight's and extending it to her enemies. "Yet hope is not lost, the Old One can remain and lay dormant. This is why we crusaders of the rose exist, to keep the Old One alive, yet controlled. Each time the seal weakens under the beast's girth, we lay down a new seal and prevent its escape. Yet now you seek to destroy the Arch-Demons, the very seal we are sworn to protect. Should they heed death's call, so to shall this world, for the seal will be broken forever more." Yutaka's cautionary words seemed to foresee armageddon, and by her tone held nothing but truth in their fibers. "I beg of you, heed my words. Give up this quest; cease seeking to destroy the Arch-Demons, or the Old One. And allow my knight and I to carry the burden of this task." The priestess beseeched, as if she was speaking to the very god she worshipped. She had even gone so far as to lower herself in a groveling huddle to prove her sincerity.

As to why the crusaders had apparently been hunting them, their reasons were now known. Yet the awe in the eyes of the adventurer's did not bring about the anxiety the crusaders had hoped, contrarily it seemed to push them into an even greater wave of gallantry. Miyuki was the first to answer her enemy's exhortation.

"The Monumental has the power of foresight because it was once a human being, a mage." Aimlessly the deeply contemplative Takara seemed to whisper without reason. "I too, am a mage…my people also had the power to see the future. The Monumental had told us that for each and every time the Old One escaped that imprisonment was the only way to contain its wrath. Yet this time the future for it, was shrouded in shadow…because of Konata Izumi and her father." Miyuki revealed to not only her opponents, but to several severely confused onlookers in her troupe as well.

"What…?" Yutaka breathed as she stood, both her's and even Minami's barely expressive face melted to those of a mortal, taken aback by the thought of imminent doom, a feeling neither could have ever expected would befall them.

"That one is special, the Monumental surely believed so." Miyuki's hopeful idiom seemed to radiate to her allies, who's sorrow filled faces had vanished the moment she began her adverse spiel. "It has seen this same scenario play out since the dawn of time, and for the first time in history it has found an uncontrollable variable, Izumi-San." As she spoke of the one who defied destiny, her childhood companion, Yutaka seemed to watch the bluenette in the distance warmly. "If the Old One returns to slumber, the next time it breaks loose its total domination of this world will only increase…until the entire planet has died regardless. So your way is to slow this progress as much as possible, to delay the inevitable. And to me, to deny mankind a chance to at least try to stop it is a most heinous crime, especially if we have a wild card, Izumi-San." Miyuki's strong words and firmer stance on the matter gave the crusaders their response, or at least that of the mage.

"Do all of you feel this way?" Yutaka questioned, this time far more desperately, she didn't like where the conversation was headed, towards a duel with swords and magic, not words.

Konata's companions at first stood silent in contemplation, considering how feasible their quest really was. The Old One was immortal, and all who quested to destroy it ended up dead, or failed their journey entirely. In the times the Old One was bested, its life could still not be claimed, only contained with a slowed passage of time for the Old One to endlessly rot within, a cage in another dimension entirely. And even then, still it would eventually break free to ravage the Earth yet again; it could not die, and could never be forever imprisoned, only for brief stints. It was truly an undefeatable horror in every sense of the concept.

In the calm, Kuroi, though slightly regrettably, was the first to respond. Her proclamation came as no surprise to her; it required very little process to come to her destined conclusion.

"I have a contract, one that prevents me from using maxim's like 'I feel such and such a way' or 'this is what I believe'. And so I respond in a business fashion, regardless of what I believe, my employer has made it clear to me that I am to assist Izumi in any manner possible, I stand with her." Kuroi suffered out her words somewhat hesitantly, it seemed to be an accord she didn't speak lightly about.

Misao noticed the strain in her ally's voice; her own chest began to beat with dejection at the thought of their mutual overlord, the masked witch. However unlike Kuroi, Misao had long since stopped fearing her master, and so answered with a passion all her own.

"While I share a similar fate, bound to a contract, I make my will my own regardless of this. You allow Izumi to live, you hand over Tsukasa, you drop dead, and our quest continues. And I'd be really appreciative if it all took place in that order." The slave's behest was bold, considering to whom she was speaking, but the crusaders did not budge their resolves much to the Misao's dismay.

"Aye." Carrot spoke up, having been complacent until now, but she felt herself spurred by the mysterious warrior's words. "My own ambitions dictate that by Umbasa's will, the Old One must perish. I am not allied with these strangers, yet they saved my life. I owe them much, and as such, stand with them." Her hidden agenda made her voice powerful, and her fear was swept away by its might. The crusaders would not stand in her way, regardless of their role in Umbasa's design.

Carrot had noticed their markings, that of her goddess, but she felt no kinship to them spiritually. Their goals conflicted, and even if Umbasa's guidance led them both along the path of virtue, this did not necessarily mean they should have similar goals in mind, or a need to be allied in them.

Yutaka quivered with hurt, it pained her to see these noble souls throw their lives away for a mission so beyond their understanding, it was foolish. They could not comprehend the Old One's divine will, its magnificence, its horrid brilliance, not as she did. Not as she had come to know the beast for over a decade as it hummed its pitiable words in her head, endlessly, the loop drove her to madness. She was both frightened, and illuminated with love by these hushed words.

"You could never begin to understand." Yutaka began mournfully, wiping a tear from her eye as she slowly began to break down, and as her body gave way, she fell to her knees as her heart became ripe with despair. "The Old One isn't a demon, the Old One cannot be destroyed and it cannot be sealed away forever. This world will die…I cannot allow this to happen…I would do anything to—" A phlegm-filled cough silenced her, and Minami could only watch painfully, she could not drop her guard even to help her sickened companion, lest she be attacked, or Tsukasa escape her choke.

"You guys…" Tsukasa suddenly spoke up from Minami's hold, her voice stilled and brave despite her usual persona, and the circumstance. "Maybe…maybe we—" The young Hiiragi seemed muddled by her own hesitation, her words did not betray her thoughts and yet she could not retrieve the strength necessary to say them. It pained her to believe what was perceived as the wrong path, but she did nonetheless.

She blessed the intrepid arrow that interrupted her, the one that dared to lodge itself within the presence of the undead crusaders. Along with the launched projectile came its master, Dragon God's blade in hand, and bow in the other.

The intruder leapt from seemingly from one of the many temple roofs at their backs, perhaps watching and waiting the entire time for the most opportune time to make her presence known. Her stannic boots rang with a forceful clunk, and the cloak around her neck whipped near and far with noisy cracks from the constraining elements of the gust storm. Her usually thoroughly fluffy mop of a head looked far rougher and knurled than usual, wind-swept and bedraggled from many hours of adventure.

Only enumerating to her manic appearance was her darkened, irritated eyes, which seemed to be peeled open from sheer willpower alone, she was definitely on her last limb. Against her debility she was still able to develop a highly adroit and polished collection of twirls and ambidextrous tosses of the hulking blade, showcasing her skillful prowess with it she had obtained in her brief ownership of it.

At the climax of her routine, she erected the slab of rock to the day-ridden, but otherwise cloudy and dark skies, and marked her special star no doubt as expressively glinting as ever behind the compass of blues and grey smearing themselves disgracefully over its brilliance.

"Patricia Martin, soon to be famed slayer of the Dragon God at last makes her appearance! She will finally have revenge for Yoshimizu's annihilation! The perpetrators, Minami and Yutaka, and their vassal, Miyuki! How do you plead?" Patricia extravagantly acted out her heroic speech, even taking into account the seriousness of the crimes and accusations. While her aura and speech held no malice, the hate could be felt coated upon every word. She had come for blood and she would not leave without it.

Yutaka and Minami did not respond, perhaps knowing regardless of their answer the sentencing would remain termination.

Miyuki, however, was far more determined to make her accountability for the massacre of Yoshimizu out to be a gross misunderstanding, as per her late master revealing her role to be that of an unwitting pawn, unfortunately for her this was harshly divergent of Patricia's wishes.

"Not guilty!" Miyuki cried out, hoping for her freedom from Patricia's imposed malefaction, but knew all too well of the nature of humans. Even if Miyuki wasn't at fault, she by design was a creature far beyond a normal human's understanding, a mage, a curious thing and therefore something to be feared for lack of a better understanding. Blaming was after all, simply a coping mechanism, in this way Miyuki somewhat found herself condoling Patricia's behavior, a prospect that frightened her.

"You have no right! Decreed guilty by the sword of the Dragon God!" The archer admonished decisively, foregoing the trial in favor of a hasty execution.

She discarded her bow frantically in favor of the goliath blade, and charged the duo of crusaders without warning, seemingly ignoring the fact that Tsukasa would be directly in her line of fire. The blade's girth provided ample time for the crusaders to escape, but the circulation of dust it accumulated during its arc made the blade seem like a veritable smokescreen crafter.

Under the blinding dirt storm, Kuroi reacted with lightning efficiency, catapulting from her hardened stance and cleanly passing each opponent within the chaos, cleanly to her target, Tsukasa Hiiragi.

A well enacted cartwheel gave her oncoming kick enough momentum to spring the deadlier of the crusaders, Minami, roughly from her hold on Tsukasa and tumbling unseen into the cloud of dust. All in one action, as her body contorted to its original state, her arms caught the feathery Hiiragi, who gently plopped into the cradle of her arms. With the child in her care, she leapt back into action, returning herself to her side of the battlefield.

"We go, now!" Kuroi ordered, denouncing any challenge on the matter with her ferocity. The others complacently followed her lead, retreating from the sandstorm until the wrath of the Dragon God butted its stony blade within their path; Patricia desperately clung to its hilt.

"Did you even hear me? I didn't recite that lion-hearted monologue so you'd run off! You're guilty; just accept what's coming to you!" Patricia whined in a huff, not aware that now was surely not the time to be stalling her previous ally's intentions for any reason.

"Then take it out on me! I'm the guilty one, not them!" Miyuki begged for her favor, the reward was a shot at her life; Patricia didn't need a better offer than that.

The once proud archer, now fueled by revenge, lifted her blade to allow Kuroi and the others to pass. The assassin looked back to Miyuki in confirmation of her decision, and respectfully she nodded to her as the group made their escape along the crest of the cliffs edge ever towards the looming Storm King, leaving the sorceress behind to confront these apparitions of her guilt.

Just as quickly as Patty receded her sword, she again hurled it within the path of the mage, barring her escape. Miyuki did not run, she stood willfully, prepared to do anything to repair the damage she had caused, even if she was forced to live her entire life in remorse of her decisions.

Unfortunately for her, she felt the presence of the crusaders behind her, their arms bared, and their goal to destroy all those that would impede their plan of salvation, of preservation. Miyuki anointed her palms with simmering flame, pointing one in each direction of her opponents; the trio of assailants did the same. The deadlock of warriors stood for a moment, assessing the style of their opponents before each of them charged, and a barrage of steel, fire, and magically infused blasts of energy were rocketed and jutted in every direction in a three way battle.

Miyuki, being in the center of the conflict, was the first to feel its wrath in the form of Patricia's sword nearly taking off her head, and instead collapsing upon Minami's gnarled and enchanted maul, sparking a rainfall of sparks above her head which she quickly avoided.

Her dodge came with an infliction of murderous gazes, pointed in both her, and the other's direction. Patricia and Minami ended their stalemate by bunny hopping to safety, leaving Miyuki to corral what little strength she had left to put an end to this pointless violence.

"I warn you all, this is not the path we seek! It will lead us only to pain, we can resolve this without bloodshed, I know we can!" Miyuki's pleading was derided by a scoffing Patricia, who responded with a boorish cackle.

"A little late for that, what with my entire people's blood shed across the entirety of Yoshimizu valley." Patty mocked back at the grieving sorceress' attempt at empathy, for she had no desire for mediation in their quarrel, nor a craving to forego her thirst for revenge. As irrational the state her mind currently found itself within, Patricia realized this all too well, delighting in the bittersweet feeling her hatred provided. Revenge wouldn't return cherished memories; it wouldn't bring back the dead or erase the catastrophes of the past, and for many who followed the path of retribution, closure could never be achieved regardless of the outcome. But she had to admit, it certainly made her feel better.

"The Dragon God's blood too, has been spilt, and you and yours have shown no desire to give up your campaign against the remaining Arch-Demons. M'lady and I will continue our mission, our paths are set." Minami dismally rehashed the archer's words, her delivery of the stance queuing Miyuki that both she and Yutaka were past the point of grasping futilely for a neutral solution.

"Before this fight begins." Yutaka added, folding her hands into the sign of Umbasa, a closed fist curling around the thumb representing a bushel of thorns adorning a rose. "I'd like to pray, not for Umbasa, but for us. We are scarred souls whom have so unfairly been forced to battle one another, it's reprehensible. I would be honored if you would join me in this séance." The priestess of Umbasa offered tranquilly and as far as her opponents could tell, sincerely. Forgoing the idea that the other party's might be eschew to the idea, the sixth saint slumped herself credulously upon the ground, holding out her hands to each opponent to join her in pre-carnage exultation.

"Y-You're joking…" Patricia sheepishly asked, praying her opponents surely couldn't be as pacifistic as they seemed. Lamentably for her, and her revenge, this seemed to be the case. "You're makin' it pretty hard to want to kill you anymore actin' all candied like this." Discordantly the archer's tone was a puzzling mixture of agreement and disagreement. It almost felt wrong to even engage in the conversation considering she had already decided nothing would change her mind about her long-awaited vengeance, but something within her wouldn't allow her decline of the soft-spoken cleric and her most humble of invitations.

Against her better judgment and somehow antipodal of her body's wishes, she allowed herself to be tempted and ensnared into the circle of peace, a decision she would no doubt regret posthumously.

Miyuki too, felt a mystifying urge to set aside her battle spirit and give in to the refreshing atmosphere of concord, which she began to realize all too late that there was a more malicious forecast than it initially appeared to be. Her body trembled with an unseen restrictive magic, she could tell this much, and the impalpable coercion brought both her and Patricia to their knees before the priestess in a most disreputable bow of submission.

"W-What did you…my body…" Miyuki managed to grit out despite her jaws being clenched together by the magic, animatedly attempting to keep her head afloat so as to maintain eye contact with the seemingly meek and unassuming priestess.

"Oh my…Minami-Chan, I did it, I actually did it!" Yutaka bellowed with joy, juvenilely bouncing over to her companion with a girlish giggle. "I-I didn't think I could, it was a straining spell." She revealed, brushing away the sweat bred from the exertion her underhanded endeavor required.

"It was very tricky of you, M'lady. I am both jubilant and horrified by your actions; it is a most confusing feeling." Her knight, Minami both praised and criticized of her lady's chicanery. The deception may have brought woe to her victims, but the two usually serene crusaders lionized their glory in a manner synonymous with a certain blue-haired menace.

Miyuki and Patricia met gazes with heavy chagrin, both completely flabbergasted that of all people, the immaculate, or at least conveyed to them, priestess Yutaka was even capable of such devious tactics. Whatever she had done, it had immobilized them, and kowtowed them before the saint humiliatingly. It was at times like these that in their shame, both Miyuki and Patricia were faintly glad most of their peers were long since departed.

"Magic, huh…?" Patricia inquired from her enemy, yet ally in misery, Miyuki. The sorceress only downwardly chuckled at their misfortune; all she could do was force optimism in the hopeless situation. "How dastardly! I mean, I was plotting to murder you all but I sure didn't expect a low blow like this…what ever happened to violence on fair terms?" Patty again moaned in frustration, feeling the very honor she held dearly drip from her frame.

Ending their gaiety, the campaigners for the dead god Umbasa stood over their powerless prey at first glance with the intention of mocking them, but unexpectedly the sixth saint Yutaka surprised them yet again, with a compassionate hug. She cradled their frozen heads in her arms, one in each, and shut her eyes as she soothingly stroked their locks.

"You brave souls. The crimes I have committed against you are inconceivable, their impacts on you irrevocable. To apologize would only degrade the grandeur of my sins, and make myself out to be wholly shameless." The curate of the rose, Yutaka, spoke solemnly, her dolor resonated within her captives deeply, she spoke as if she endured constant suffering.

"M'lady…" Minami respired heavily, reaching for her master's shoulders to elevate her from her stunted position. To alleviate whatever pain she could, the knight of Garland turned her away from the broken children beneath them, and directed her attention at the still escaping warriors in the distance, preparing an attack on the king of storms. The two wasted no time in beginning a steady walk towards them before being halted by the archer.

"H-Hey! Hey wait, wait damn it! I said wait!" Patricia squealed in irritation, having trouble believing her targets would be so honorable as to turn their backs to her, and spare her life when she offered them no such kindnesses. "Get back here! Get back her and impale yourselves on this sword! Raaaaagh!" She frothed once more with rage, struggling in vain against the might of the priestess' magic to escape its bindings and retaliate for the sake of her lost people.

"Patricia Martin, I swear to you that when the peace we strive for has yet again been attained…I will give you my life." Yutaka swore to the lone survivor of Yoshimizu in a pact of blood, an oath of retribution and perhaps even mercy. With her promise made, the crusaders purposefully charged after the rest of Konata's troupe, bent on stopping them from attacking the Arch-Demon.

Patricia suspended her rampage of insults and moaning at the cleric's pledge, she could scarcely believe one of perceived evil would ever owe up to their actions, or attempt to make amends. In fact, it only seemed to anger her more, again Yutaka was the better woman, again her enemy showed a respect for life and for her own adversary's well being that made the adventurer's own behavior seem callow, and absurdly childish.

How arbitrary it was that the beings she loathed more than any other in the wide world were saints, champions of virtue and kindness the likes of which all common men strived to be. It seemed unfair that her antipathy was concentrated on these souls, bound together by love and crusading for peace.

"This must be what defeat tastes like…how bitter." Patty whined, abandoning her tugging at the invisible yet not at all imperceptible bindings.

"If it makes you feel any better this is certainly humiliating to one of your greatest enemies." Miyuki joked about her own predicament, hoping to abate any meager of fraction of animosity she could.

Patricia growled contemptuously, giving the sorceress a pugnacious fish-eye. "Greatest enemy my foot! My body might be frozen like a block of ice but I could still spit on you until you die, don't underestimate me!"Haughtily she proclaimed, trying her best to inflate her slowly collapsing ego before it lost its buoyancy entirely.

* * *

The goal was within reach, yet unobtainable. The Storm King hovered nonchalantly above them, its immeasurable span encompassing the entirety of the Monumental's warriors' vision. The pinkish splotches of squishy, underbelly skin gyrated and wiggled like rubber in excitement at the demon's foes' close proximity, a shake formed from the battalion of lesser mantas cawing and fiddling nervously on the Arch-Fiend's body, their home.

A leap to the creature was impossible, it soared nearly a hundred feet above them, and failure in planting atop their target would result in a departure to the after-life, a trip to the ravenous fury of the ocean waters below.

And despite the crack of lightning, and windswept ocean waves, Misao startlingly heard the clunking clank of steel-tipped, armored boots behind their mass, likely belonging to that of the heftier of the crusaders.

"They're coming; I hope one of you has wings." Misao hurriedly advocated as she became aware of the approaching Yutaka and Minami, moping when she noticed the assassin Kuroi seemed to be the only one with a non-discordant smile.

"Better." The liquidator assured, reaching into one of her many holsters and removing a lustrous, and frighteningly expensive looking tool. "I present to you the latest in engineering and tax-payers money, a hook-shot." She presented impudently, pointing the nozzle of the gun-shaped apparatus to the underbelly of the Storm King and clenching the spring-loaded trigger.

A thick and sharpened hook bound to a rope of ridiculous length briskly jettisoned from the machine, gliding at inhuman speeds across a vast distance of empty space over the sea before it met its target, slamming into the pink belly of the goliath and securing their route to the creature.

"You're so joking." Misao hoped out loud, rubbing her eyes tiredly when she realized it was no laughing matter, watching Kuroi carelessly leapt from the cliff-side, hook-shot in hand, swinging like an ape from a vine high above the raging oceans waves below.

Spurring herself with the momentum, in the distance Kuroi at first seemed disorientated, but quickly regained her assassin's composure as she secured herself steadfastly to the iron grip of the hook-shot's rope, pulling herself up the vine with little trouble. Making a half-moon swing, Kuroi, clinging madly to the rope began to appear closer, apparently using her speed as an impetus force to propel herself closer to the cliffs. Her hand appeared outstretched, and unfortunately, there wasn't a soul amongst their rank who didn't infer the meaning of the gesture.

"She's not. Alright! Let's get this over with; the devil's waiting with bells on his toes for me anyway!" The slave Misao hollered dutifully, leaping from the altitudinous perch of the cliff and narrowly being caught by the still-swinging assassin. Using Kuroi's steady hand and arm as leverage, she dexterously yanked her body upward, and linked her legs around Kuroi's waist, using the woman's larger girth as a hold for her legs while her shaky hands grasped the burning rope.

The comrades of the masked witch swung several loops around the empty space above the sea before they reached the end of their circulation around it, slowly approaching the cliff one final time with outstretched hands, preparing to catch their far daintier allies when they tried their hand at jumping the gap.

Carrot minded the bestial, and likely for the two eminently habituated, way that they were able to perform such physical feats. "O-Oh my…they can't be…I-I'm not very physically conditioned for this type of…oh…no…" Worriedly she muttered to herself, knowing full well her talents in the somatic realm were few, there was simply no way she could manage a jump like that. Even approaching the cliff, the results of their circulation would still place them at least a dozen feet away at best; it simply didn't seem possible for a human to mind such a gap.

Tsukasa however, still somewhat estranged from the situation from her earlier disturbing thoughts of uncertainty, found herself more galvanized than ever before. "I-I'm not very strong…" The younger Hiiragi began bravely. "And I'm not entirely the brightest either. B-But there comes a time in everyone's lives when it boils down to do or…d-die, and only those with the strength to rise above the rest are left standing. We need to be strong, Carrot-Chan!" Unexpectedly Tsukasa explained with wisdom far beyond her average rationality.

In spite of the spurring intrepidity, Tsukasa Hiiragi had much growing to do. Her usual overwrought attitude had split into elation almost exclusively, she could feel the change down to her bones and the warmth it brought was simply exquisite. And while the palpability of her persevering metamorphose did bring her the excitement she yearned for, she had to be certain of her next step.

And what a literal step it was, the cliff-side had to be at least a kilometer's drop, and if the sea didn't crush her body from the fall, she'd be impaled on any of the numerous rocks. The sea was cruel, as they say, and while it wasn't her first time seeing the ocean, she couldn't help but be taken aback by how endless it seemed. It fit rather well with how she felt inside at that moment, if she had to be honest, immeasurable room for growth, growth like the globe spanning oceans.

Taking a step off of the cliff before her would be a decision she wouldn't have the opportunity to reminisce about, it was, after all, a decision not made lightly concerning your future paths. Yutaka and Minami's words beat within her distressingly, they haunted her. She would have to be sure this was the course she was meant to take, and to forge the road ahead she would have to be predisposed, and strong.

Her left foot dangled off the drop with a jerking twitch, and the weight of her body headed the rest of the journey for her. Eyes clenched shut boldly, confidently believing she would soon feel the warmth of one of her allies hands hoisting her to moderate safety upon the dangling hook-shot's rope.

Though her descent lasted mere seconds, the thunderous wind that deafened her and the twisted knots within her stomach made it seem amaranthine, but well worth the anxiety when her impatience paid off, with the pressure of falling being replaced with a ridiculing laughter, and a sweaty hand entwined within her own.

Tsukasa exposed herself to the world at the sensation, gasping with assuagement and dithered with alarm as her sight fell upon the fanged spear-woman, Misao, her powerful hand the only lifeline between her and a hairy fall to the sea below.

"Little Hiiragi, I half expected your broken body to make friends with the ocean!" Misao teased morbidly; glad she hadn't crossed the line too much when she saw a sniveling, but otherwise exultantly beaming Tsukasa.

"I…I knew you'd catch me. I-I wasn't scared." Tsukasa dribbled out in response amidst a powerful sniff of her nose. Despite her bravery, she surely did have a lot of growing to do.

* * *

"Oh Umbasa give me the strength I need to…jump to my death, most likely." Carrot entreated, swinging her body in preparation of either dashing her body against the crags of sharpened rocks and compact waters below, or being caught by her timely allies. But their circulation around the gap would be at that point, subsequent of her life's end, for her death was surely near at the hands of the crusaders.

"Daughter of sin, sovereign Ayano." A familiar intonation with ample venom called to her from behind, those zealots of peace, her allies' enemies, who had ostensibly held the knowledge of her true identity. "The wind current combined with your…inordinate choice of dress will not allow for easy passage across the gap." The lankier of the two, Minami, warned cuttingly, but less for the girl's own good and more to alert her to the threat of the gargantuan maul pointed to her backside. And it was true, extravagant ballroom gowns of the finest silk and feathery frills certainly weren't the most flexible clothing to be practicing draining physical feats in.

Carrot, or perhaps at this moment, Ayano, turned to face the radicals curiously, less intimidated by the bruiser's weapon to her stomach and more intrigued about scrutinizing their knowledge of her identity and the peculiar autonym they attached to it.

"You know me?" Ayano inquired timorously, assuming her pseudonym's duplicitous potency may not be as solid as she had hoped.

Heavyhearted, and with a swathe of regret despite her aura of relative pacifism, Yutaka ordered her adherent of the rose to lower her guard."It is hard to mistake the offspring of the world's greatest autocrat, and Boletaria's most notorious criminal." Yutaka both noted, and accused, extolling the celebrity's venal ways.

Ayano tensed her body in disgrace, virtuously holding the crusaders gaze without fright. "I know of my family's crimes, and my reasons for concealing them are my own. Do not worry; I will make amends for my father's wrong-doings." The cleric affirmed dauntlessly, remarkably getting an approving smirk for her bold declaration.

"Yes, I feel you shall." Yutaka spoke encouragingly, pressing past the cleric in white and scouting the belligerents scaling the vacillating rope dripping from the belly of the Arch-Demon. "Regrettably, it always seems to be the duty of the child to mend the wounds engendered by their forebear." Movingly the priestess whispered with some degree of comprehension, perhaps the granted mercy she offered her opponent was by some measure of kindred disposition.

"Now please." Minami began pleadingly. "For M'lady's sake, do not stand against us in our battle against the Monumental's servants." She implored benevolently, allowing the clergy-woman to live as long as she did not impede their progress. Minami was fast approaching her approved caliber of frivolous barbarism she was willing to expose her lady to, she had no wish to engage in combat with anyone not immediately stalling progress. Regardless if such an individual may encumber their path later on, for the time being, Ayano was not their enemy.

"I..I-I…oh gods, I cannot allow you to do that." Unless of course Ayano stood inflexibly on the matter, thrusting herself in the path of the crusaders and barring their advance, awarding the pair a proper reason to impart maltreatment.

"This is unwise; you do not look to be a warrior by any criterion I have ever known." The knight of Garland, Minami, warned, scantily optimistic about the chaplain's chances should she engage them.

"Perhaps not, but…" Ayano equivocated, browsing the landscape for an instrument cogent enough to stand egalitarian to the crusaders. Then she saw them, the mysterious archer and her short-bout companion Miyuki, seemingly debilitated but not properly indisposed. "Umbasa, give me strength!" She supplicated for aid, crashing through the duo of the rose and jolting assiduously towards the fallen warriors.

"Retreating?" Minami questioned to her lady as she watched Ayano fade into the collection of dormitories along the cliff, Yutaka only wryly grimaced in response. It would be bad enough if they had to contend with the three warriors attempting to scale onto the sky ray, double trouble wasn't exactly something that rendered them ebullient.

Yet the Storm King could not be left unattended, and while it filled Minami with worry to leave her lady neglected, the diverging morass of events forced her entrustment of the priestess.

Yutaka embosomed herself to Minami's taller frame, sentimentally constructing a bond of invulnerable faith. Though they be apart, no matter the length, their fidelity in their love would reunite them under any circumstance.

They broke apart regrettably, each pursuing a different squad of opponents. Minami ran after the priestess Ayano, concealing her identity under the false name Carrot. And Yutaka would give chase to the servants of the Monumental scaling the rope clinging to their targets belly.

The sixth saint vociferated to her confreres of soul devouring demons patrolling the ashy temples, to regard her voice's deference and ferry her whims. Her body radiated with magical energy, a beacon to those who would heed her needy call, brothers and sisters of the damned, who from a distance, could be heard screeching and whistling at the command of a greater demonic soul.

"Assist me in destroying them, brethren." The unholy being Yutaka requisitioned, gleefully observing the flock of diseased ray-spawn that heeded her call, perching themselves on the bluff at her feet and bending their necks to her. Devotedly she stroked their glossy backsides, she could not be disparaging to her iniquitous slaves even mindful of their hellish origins.

Others too found themselves drawn by her command, fiends of incorporeal gas and skeletons raised from the dead. They clawed their way upward from shallow graves beneath her feet, and slunk slimily from the shadows amongst the alley-ways surrounding the shadowed temples goliath church. Perhaps they had been there the entire time, despite not intruding upon the many lives intruding within their homes; perhaps they did so out of fear.

As they approached, the shadow-men and boney minions mounted themselves upon their steeds, the manta-spawn, and their governor did so conjointly, seating herself upon the affectionate demon that nuzzled its snout to her breast.

The battalion of demons and their master rode into the skies forthwith, quickly bridging the short gap between themselves and the Monumental's servants, encircling themselves around the rope the warriors clung to, firing arrows from cracked, weathered bows and tempests of magical missiles fired from the hands and gelatin limbs of Yutaka and the shadow-men. She would not allow them to escape, the fireballs ravenously shot from her palms confirmed her conviction, the Monumental's servants grave would be the sea.

"Kuroi, climb faster!" Misao castigated, her rage creating a momentum in their rope frightening enough that it could easily fashion a myriad of squeaky gasps from Tsukasa. Misao did so dually within her anger, and to avoid the hailstorm of projectiles flung their way from the cadre of demons circling about their rope like vultures.

"W-What about Carrot!?" Tsukasa hollered over the deafening winds, noticing Misao's hesitance to answer.

"They won't kill her, trust me. She'll be fine!" Misao assured, and not without reason, she couldn't help but notice a rather blaringly orange spec of life moving in the distance along the cliff-side, it could be no one but the cleric. Besides, with the assailants surrounding their person, another adding weight to their life-line would be far too dangerous.

Yet the danger now was far more precedent, and compensating the intruders for their generous amount of violence, Misao thrust her spear outward with her free hand, piercing it through an approaching sky-manta. The damage wrenched its insides as she yanked the pronged weapon from its stab, amusedly beholding the manta as it fell wounded to its death to the sea below, along with its an unfortunate rider, a jittery skeleton that seemed to curse her name as it vanished below the drape of blue.

Finally Kuroi was able to respond as she broke away from her disorientation, suddenly lax in fear of demons, more in irrelevant nonsense."I'm trying but every time I slink upward I feel like the contours of my butt choke in these leather pants, I haven't gained weight have I!?" Kuroi whined out disconsolately, rubbing her posterior in trepidation, scarcely aware of the mass of arrows and fire lobbed in their direction.

Making note of Kuroi's irrelevant babbling, Misao figured by this logic of incongruity surely the assassin wouldn't mind if she used the very weight she complained about as a battering ram. Bolstering her clamp over Tsukasa's hand and her thighs wrangled about Kuroi's hips, Misao heaved and bucked backwards, flowing with the wind and not pushing against it, fashioning the threesome into a bona fide siege weapon. The force crushed their bodies against another of the more contiguous manta-rays and drove the passenger from their saddle, again, to a watery grave.

As they came to a halt from their latest consternating swing, Tsukasa couldn't help but fret with worry as she felt her weakening grasp, it wouldn't be long before the chaos around them forced her from her lifeline and she joined the plunging demon brood.

"I'm so tired of this!" Tsukasa yowled in dismay, surmounting her cowardice and tactlessly climbing over her companions bodies upward and beyond in a frenzy, wishing only to be free of her groundlessness.

"Golly." The slave muttered confoundedly as she watched Tsukasa climb the rope higher and higher in awe. "Thusly, did Kuroi henceforth get her crap in gear and climb faster!" Misao testily dictated, crushing her head underneath her ally's behind and forcibly impelling the assassin to keep assurgent.

And steadily climb they most definitely had to, for the hastily crafted arrows of the skeletons, and the magical bolts wrought from Yutaka and the shadow-men's fingers, ripped and burned the rope bit by bit, forcing the trio ascending it to scale with all their might, lest they be made into torched pincushions of suffer a not so endless fall.

Despite the markswoman's shot being centered around the edge of the fleshy stomach of the Arch-Fiend, during their ascent more and more had the deeply imbedded hook apparently dragged around inwardly, placing its location closer to that of the creature's crested sides, giving the climbers a far easier method with which to climb atop the Arch-Demon.

Queerly they arrived at the apex of the hook-shot's blade without a scratch, leaping to the bounteous amounts of breathing room that was the Storm King's back when they did so. Kuroi cringed as she turned to reach for the device, watching as it finally tore from its diluted holding and toppled to the ocean below.

"That machine's value matched the wealth of several small kingdoms…" She moaned at the misfortune of seeing such immense wealth lost to unforeseen variables such as this, who'd of thought the dainty priestess Yutaka would actually grow a spine?

"This is…unreal." Tsukasa gasped nihilistically, at last taking in the enormity of her goal, the wish to destroy the Old One, a road that would require pain nonpareil, deaths innumerable and pandemonium omnipresent.

The hide of the Storm King in its immenseness, shown an ecosystem of biology, both plants and creatures big and small seemed to flourish upon the girth of the arch-demon. Trees grown with age that multiplied into endless forests, drinking from springs, ponds and rivers flourishing from wells of water unseen, perhaps from the very core of the demon they sat upon. Animals in the prime of growth fed on both verdure, and one another, and above them the blanketed skies were layered with another integument, the peaks of the green forests rooted into the demon's back.

Somehow, even small, hilly mountains rose above the trees like pimples on the Storm King's skin, snow-capped and high-reaching, propelling the ascent of the god of the skies even further into the beyond. It seemed that regular weather patterns seemed to accommodate these tiny mountains and beyond, crafty, blinding whips of snowstorms could be seen cradled through the winds. Rain could be even be seen bathing a far-off sprawl of the forest, while the area they stood upon remained dry, basking in the warmth of the hidden sun.

Even the children of the Storm King, the mantas, peacefully glided amongst the trees, breathing in the union of nature around them. It seemed the demons only shown their aggressive colors when their progenitor, their mother, their lord and their world was met with a disruptive variable.

Despite herself with awe, Tsukasa approached a nearby waterfall that seemed to pour from a cliff-side staggering above her, a small alcove and oasis seemed to be present at the base, exotic species of fish could be found within. Animal life seemed to skitter all around this wellspring, a bevy of hungry birds cawed above them to pick at the numerous fruit littered amongst the branches of the many trees, and a slithering snake stealthily moved below them, spying prey in an unwitting mouse. A gallant crush of a fuzzy bear's paw whacking at a nearby stream trickled from behind, and the sway of the trees ushered in a chorus of whistling pitches and rackets that could only be matched by the orchestra of cicadas and crickets.

And the flowers, illimitable, for every patch of grass there had to be at least a dozen flowers, containing myriads of colors and shapes, perhaps they were exotic to the back-sided oasis alone. Somewhere it seemed, the flowers Miyuki had spoken of still bloomed within the forgotten shadow temples, displaced but not gone.

Among the foliage stood testaments to mankind's will towards such abominations, arrows and swords, even corpses seemed to litter here and there, behind a tree or half-covered by a rock. Their bodies, and weapons, antiquated in their use as lifeblood for the macrocosm around them, were the only blemish in this wonderland of unanimity rested upon a demon's back. They were hidden otherwise, beneath the overgrowth of bushes and moss that devoured their ancient bodies.

Such bastions of harmony were rare in the wilds, but to be found atop the back of a demon, to find endless forests, sweeping mountains, untamed wilderness barely touched by the growth of mankind was unthinkable. Just how did these creatures survive? How did these plants grow? Where did the arcing rainbows extending overhead of the massive forest find the light necessary to reflect from? For there was nary to be seen even a single ray of the sun.

Truly, virginal order such as this was the last thing any of them expected to find here, in Boletaria, land of dastardly demons and totalitarian monarchs, it took only this dash of greens and lively essence to oppress any reservations the younger Hiiragi twin had any longer.

"Misa-Chan, Sensei…I…I don't think we should do this." Tsukasa disclosed her secretive thoughts to them, hoping that by perhaps seeing the cost of peace firsthand redacted the need for consultation.

Wontedly did Misao offer her chastising assessment. "A joke, yes? It had to have been, for I surely didn't hear apprehension here, at the point of no return." She whined in frustration, growing choleric when Tsukasa couldn't so much as meet her intimidating gaze.

"Kusakabe's right, kid." Kuroi agreed facilely. "I mean, we're here, yeah? On the back of the Arch-Demon, let's just do the job and quit worrying about the details. In all honesty I bet these cutesy woodland creatures are the byproduct of some incorrigible demon anyway." She expostulated in a manner far more agreeable by tone alone, but it still wasn't the answer Tsukasa had hoped for.

Tsukasa found, as likely as she figured, that reproaching minds of such poise was a wasted effort. It was foolish to assume they would give her any chance at annotation concerning uncertainty, even if said dubiety was slight, not fully formed. She would set aside her reservations for as long as she could manage, perhaps even; she would have to suffer the consequences of their actions first hand before she truly understood if what they were doing, making the choice of an entire planet concerning its survival, was fair or not.

Noticing that she was dawdling in her musing, Tsukasa impelled herself to move for her allies' sake, following the two of them into the shady forests obscuring their path. As the trio began their trek into the burgeoning woodland, Misao felt again an augural ardor hidden from within the dark forest paths, and despite Kuroi's earlier sentiment, it certainly wasn't any creature native to the Storm King's asylum.

The canopy of thickened leaves above them had begun to inauspiciously recede, theatrically announcing the arrival of Yutaka and her cadre of demons, who wasted no time in leaping from their mounts and providing an obnoxiously unwelcome roadblock to stall he heroes' progress.

Yutaka had foreseen, with simple premonition based off of Misao's personality, that the drudge's spear would be prodded in her direction without prejudice. She was correct, and thanks be one of her demon brood, a sacrificial shadow-man, was willing to barricade its master with its own body and take the blow, dying pitifully as it melted into a sopping puddle of its own fermenting goo.

Misao growled impetuously, staffing her spear to her side as she wiped the morbidity from her sweaty lips, she could scarcely believe the young priestess had the energy to continue chasing them as she did, a tenacity produced in no small part to her demonic blood no doubt.

"Will you just leave us alone? Do I have to bribe you or something?" Misao offered caustically, amorously revealing a ripened thigh as she lifted her torn pant leg. "Sexual favors? Money? Kuroi's self respect? She does tricks, come on girl sit!" She again derided, earning glares from all parties.

"Reel it in, Kusakabe." Kuroi ordered to her lesser, unlatching her daggers and taking on a battle stance. "I was really hoping it wouldn't come to this priestess, you seem like an agreeable sort, and I'm usually not very fervid when it comes to killing kids, but a job's a job." She professed morosely, waiting for her allies to take posture before inaugurating the more frangible of the two crusaders into battle.

Misao convivially obliged, pronging her spear and preparing for combat, she too awaited the feedback of their junior before progressing. "Tsukasa, where do you stand?" She demanded somewhat hurtfully, placing her ally on the spot in front of all.

Tsukasa faltered in her attempt to grip at her blade's hip-latch, dubious of the role she was condemned to take. The Old One was a calamity the world could indeed do without, but for how long? Science was indeed progressing, dynamically altering their world down to its fibers every day with new breakthroughs and counterstatements to the laws of the church, or even that of physics. Science, while bound by logic and reason, was also a winding esplanade of overruling canons and imagination, and to be indentured by the fixed path was to abandon the thought that all things cannot be changed.

In time perhaps, with the aid of science, mankind could substitute another resource to power the principles of the world in place of the Old One, but would they create such a miracle in time? Who could say, and while man had indeed been responsible for bettering the world around them countless times, so too have they unleashed blight and war on scales that only served as blasphemous to the honor-bound that helped build the world from dirt, only to see their marvels and peace rotted away under the greed and cycling behavior of their fellow humans.

Perhaps, development wasn't always necessary. Perhaps when the hate of many outweighed those who desired harmony, the world itself should remain homogenous, savvy to the constant and forthright with its confrontation against change.

With dampness in her eyes Tsukasa unveiled her short-blade, unsure of herself and of the coming aversion her allies sought. To find her answers, she would force herself to see the world through the eyes of the sixth saint Yutaka, and to do that, would require a debate with steel, for convictions true worth only shown themselves in moments of vulnerability.

"Warriors of the Monumental—" Yutaka commenced cordially, refraining her words when Misao interrupted with a ghoulish raspberry blow of her tongue.

"Oh would you please stop killing my demon friends? Boo hoo. No. Wanna hear it again? The answer is again, no!" Misao discharged indignantly, feeling at this point antagonized by the meek saint in her attempts to dissuade them from their path of regeneration.

"Very well…brethren, attack!" Yutaka ordered mightily, countervailed by an inexorable cough that hushed her to silence. She couldn't help but fall weakly to her knee, grasping at the afflicted seething burning throughout her struggling lungs, there could be no worse time for her sickness to overtake her fragile body than now.

As she seized her escaping breath, her minions fled to her aid, determined to be her shield in a time of fracas. The shadow men and skeletons charged the Moumental's servants by the dozen, and their demonic presence served as a hindrance to the harmony around them. Their cries compelled mass retreat, as animals both large and small ran to their hidey-holes and nests high atop the trees to escape the coming battle.

Misao and Kuroi charged into action instantly, and imperceptibly their less battle-hardened companion followed. Misao's protracted spear found a point, with the blade of the weapon nestled within the blinding core of one of the shadow-men, reverting the demon to the pile of sludge it spawned from, and kindling the battle's outset.

Tsukasa ducked below the challengers in the confusion, proving her demeanor as a true neophyte by blindly swinging her blade in the general direction of one of her enemy's, managing to lob off one of the skeleton's domes but also narrowly missing the assassin.

"Woah there kid, eyes! Rule number 1, your most important battle asset is your eyeballs! Let's you see everything from opponent battle styles to a rock you might trip over." Kuroi pointed out as if it wasn't incontestable in the upmost, bringing home the point by elegantly spotting a pair of piercing scimitars held by a duo of skeletons, which she bent her body clean under and in her slouch managed to bifurcate both demons at the waist.

"S-Sorry…" Tsukasa apologized bashfully, blocking an incoming attack with the blunt end of her blade and pushing the opponent away with the span of her heft, watching as the brittle wrists of the skeleton crunched under even such inconsiderable strain.

Misao too noticed the frailty of her opponent's rotted and gelatinous bodies, but made the mistake of being overly presumptuous when one of the shadow-men took hold of her spear, sucking the entirety of the armament into its darkened belly, where the slave could only watch forlornly as her prized possession was broken down into divisions of blade and wood.

"My spear! This bastard just ate it!" Misao blared out despondently, murderously tackling her provoker to the dirt and ripping the shadowy bits from its body, throwing slabs of darkened jelly-flesh in every direction, hitting defenseless animals, knocking nests from trees and comically bonking malicious demons alike.

Kuroi snickered triumphantly at the sight as she cut down another skeleton. "Woah, watch out there priestess! You just unleashed an animal!" She crowed exaggeratedly, dodging a slash of a blade in her festival and expertly head-butting the traducer into pieces.

As the battle waned in her favor, Yutaka deplorably turned away from the carnage, making her abrupt escape into the nearby forest in hopes of losing her opponents, but as the last of the demons were cut down they exhibited nothing but moxie.

"Oh no you don't! After her!" The hit-woman Kuroi bid to her accomplices, and the two complied as they finished off their opponents both enthusiastically and indolently.

Yutaka's direct gambit had failed as she somewhat suspected, truly the Monumental's servants were something to be feared on the battlefield, even the daintiest of them. She would instead have to bring about her dominion of the battle's favor indirectly, and she knew just how to achieve such success. She had walked these humble forests before, become enchanted by their beauty, and of course, she knew the source of the Storm King's unanimous peace. If she could only find the heart of power, the effulgence she felt beating from the life of every organism within the Storm King's preserve, she could use its nigh limitless power to destroy her enemies hopefully, without difficulty.

Deep within the core of the mighty timbers laid this kernel of power, the marrow of the Storm King's life force. The forest was vast, but the beacon of quintessence shone brightly in the darkness, it would only be a matter of minutes before her enemies found it regardless. If only her destination could be reached then her victory would be assured, and the Storm King's failing life augmented for as long as it needed to be.

The measure of sacrifice necessary to stop these invaders, to protect the Storm King, would undoubtedly however, be great. Great achievements were rarely bred from insignificant sacrifice; Yutaka knew this all too well. The Monumental's servants would fall, before her or otherwise, of this she had no doubt. She could not doubt, not while her undying body still bore breath, lest life itself fade away from the decrepit shell of a future Earth, lest the chain be undone.

* * *

**Author's Note: **None, really. No excuses. Here's a chapter, 9 more chapters pre-written as of a few days ago, all to be uploaded a few days apart from one another. Will continue to write, now that I have at least a month's leeway of pre-written chapters.


	24. Whence Cometh Evil?

**Lucky Souls**

* * *

**Chapter 24: Whence Cometh Evil? **

"I expect veritable amnesty." Ayano, again cloaked under the guise of Carrot, spoke to the simmering Patricia and gratified sorceress Miyuki, warning the two before she prepared to purge the compulsory spell they were knotted within.

"Croissant?" Patricia disconcertedly asked, decidedly perplexed by the mention of irrelevant pastries.

"No, that's viennoiserie. I believe she wants us to 'play nice'." Miyuki credulously explained to her naïve consort in chilled misery.

"Gesundheit." The bow-woman blessed at the confusing conjunction of vowels, feeling great amelioration over her condition when she felt the lifting relief of the curse over her broken, allowing both her and her magician foe to stand tall against gravity's burden once more.

"Truce?" Carrot requested, not prepared to abjure on neutrality between the two.

Patty and Miyuki exchanged hesitant glances at the prospect, and while the latter was certain the former would answer in the form of steel, she couldn't help but notice the gleam of uncertainty in Patricia's eye. Perhaps it was the benevolence her enemies had so plainly handed to her, that she was so unwilling to return, it left within her a feeling of casuistry. She didn't forgive Miyuki, not by a long shot, but it certainly wouldn't be very easy to fell both an experienced woman of the dark arts and an undead crusader of the damned. While guile wasn't her strong-suit, Patty was willing to slink to such levels if it meant her enemies paid in full.

Patricia caved with a conceding shrug, readying her wholly likable dynamo nature as their mutual enemy, Minami Iwasaki of the clan Garland, approached from a nearby alleyway, maul in hand. "What is it they say? Living well is the best revenge, and I can't have mine on you if we both die here. Let's show this minty doll the power of a dream." She imparted to her adversary gamely, standing shin to shin with one of the supposed perpetrators of her homes destruction, prepared to unify with the magician if the situation forced, which against an opponent of this magnitude, it did in spades.

"Patty…" Miyuki cooed, feeling the unbridled affection from a being she had wronged so dearly was refreshing in these dark times, she knew she couldn't fail her even though her second chance wasn't absolute just yet.

Without an ounce of enervation Minami approached them, humongous maul draped over her shoulder plate. "It is times like these I am glad I'm undead, you lot have the vigor of children, I find it almost difficult to keep up." She gamboled breathlessly, ascribing their endurance to the virtually limitless potential of mortal humans and youth, even though she was decidedly youthful and humanistic by appearance as well.

"It's the hammer." Patty quipped with an outstretched finger. "And the manly armor, and the blank stare in your eyes that show a quiet sadness. Plus you smell funny." She scorned thoroughly, taking note of each and every idiosyncrasy extant in the crusader's character, for these traits surely had to be the cause of her vigor-less state.

"Am I so strange?" Minami wondered aloud, observing her appearance momentarily before reversing thoughts back to the prior engagement, the death of her enemies. "Oh, um…I mean, M'lady has requested I kill you. I am deeply sorry." She expressed ruefully as she remembered her mission, an honor which was all but negated with a hardened charge, lifting her colossal maul to the heavens and bracing it for a downward crush that would fell her enemies in a single, pulverizing blow.

* * *

Dividing herself from Hiyori's earthly trap proved easy, but unfortunately for the Dregling Kagami, felling a trio of foes of still living flesh would prove far more challenging game. Under the penitent glow of the church wall's intermingling shades, Kagami bellowed yet again, screeching fervently in a rage that toppled the disintegrating structure even further.

Falling from their fixed shelving, immeasurable heaps of enormous glass sheeting and iron bars the length of a horse toppled all around, succumbing to Kagami's fury, destroying all they fell upon with their littering collisions. One of the more impending falls proved to be an untimely distraction, for the six-foot bar of metal that had punctured the ground at Konata's feet had not only nearly killed her, but completely deadened her to the approaching Dregling with savage claws bared.

"Kagami, wait!" Konata called for pause, blocking another savage slash from Kagami's claws with her own blade, sweating with worry when she knew her human muscles were no match for that of a demi-fiend. "I wasn't ready I said! Cheap! Unfair! Hiyori throw down a flag or something!" The bluenette bellyached at her largely one-sided odds.

Thanks be an obstructive shield from her cousin Yui had the chance to leave her beholden, for her friend's deformed claws had nearly slashed open her throat if not for the timely defense. Yui followed up her strategy of aegis with a frenetic flurry of slashes, cutting deeply in a plethora of spaces throughout Kagami's demonified body. Yet even with these wounds the demon stood strong, superficially continuing her assault by tearing the guard captain's reliable kite shield from her hands and sending the tool airborne, and away further out of sight behind a pile of recently collapsed rubble.

The lapse in fortifications struck Yui alarmingly, she had no time to react to the breakneck pierce of the Dregling's claw that tore through her breastplate and skewered her sternum, from which the biting pain rendered her momentarily paralyzed, and the momentary crippling gave the demon another chance at a pulverizing blow to the knight's shoulder. The slash had eradicated her consummately crafted armor yet again; bits of metal and bloody flesh showered from her plate and caved in shoulder, littering the ground with her when she made an unpleasant fall before her victorious opponent.

"Yui!" Konata diffidently called to her downed cousin, regarding the mage Hiyori at her side, speechlessly supplicating her cooperation.

Hiyori agreed to the contract, weaving a whirling spell of icy stalagmites around her arms length, firing several of the projectiles from a distance and hitting her mark each time, but Kagami was unfazed and took the blows as to be expected from a demon, mere bee stings. Tearing each of the snowy cutlasses and dismissing them from her flesh, like a wolf with a thorn in its paw.

Herein Konata saw the futility of their goal, how does go about one subduing that which does not feel pain? Undeterred by the deep cuts and blackened bruises on her flesh, Kagami's mind steadfastly coveted nourishment in the form of human souls. Such a goal rendered her impassive to safety, it overtook her senses and spoke perpetually of its need to the host in hopes that it may stay the hunger for as long as required.

The ephemeral thought brought clarity to Konata; the answer was now far from obscured to her. When one is starving they seek food, once consumed, appetency for sustenance is done away with for a time. Kagami, in her demonic delirium, would search for a banquet of souls until, and likely it would in such a case, kill her. If the beast was properly fed, they may have a slight chance to chasten the virus within her.

"Hiyori? I need you to do somethin' for me." Konata implored, all too serious in tone, helping to heave her injured cousin upwards as she spoke. The eager magician was prepared to assist, but she likely wasn't ready to hear whatever it was the girl was about to ask. "Never thought I'd be in a situation so dire where I couldn't find a way to turn this around into a sexual joke somehow but…I'm gonna let her try and suck out summa my soul, that is what these Dreglings are after right? I know what'll happen if she takes too much…so, before that happens, stop her, she'll be bloated enough that it'll be easy." The azure knight explained her foolhardy plan in a manner that evaded the power of an argument, and being a master on the subject of souls and their most intricate mechanisms, Hiyori did not protest.

"Aye…you've probably got around ten seconds max before you lose consciousness, and if that happens I can't guarantee you'll wake up." The beholder of soul arts knowledge, Hiyori, supervised to her would-be ally.

"Maybe for the best, you're so foolish…just like that father of yours." Yui added in coldly, but with a playful mock to it. The knight couldn't help but clutch her caved in shoulder as she struggled to maintain a vertical stance, her injuries were beginning to get a terrible hold over her. "I've got your back cousin; I'll pull you off when things look hairy…well, hairier." The captain backed up valorously, contending as well she could against the prodigious pain. Konata only nodded, she did not protest her kin's role even with her grievous injuries. She would need all the help she could muster in such a daft endeavor.

"Kagamin!" Konata called to her friend, stepping away from her group and dropping her only defense, her blade, to the ground so as to be vulnerable against the coming assault. "I need you to lend me some of your courage!" Heavily the bluenette began, slowly approaching the snarling Kagami with a saddened grin. "The same courage you've used to hold me up all your life. I'm a stupid, selfish, lazy, bossy, opinionated, and egotistical little punk, and all you've ever done is allow me to stand on your shoulders just so I'd seem a little bit taller in the eyes of the world." Her words held power as she had hoped, efficacy enough to stall a demon's lust for lifeblood for but a brief passing at least.

Konata reached out sagely, caressing the blood-soaked cheek of Kagami with the back of her own sore, tempered hand. The demon reciprocated, clasping its own claws gingerly on the human's knuckles, stroking them dotingly. This tenderness, albeit brief, seemed earnest in its intent, truly Kagami remained somewhere shackled within the cage of madness, a heart within the shaded husk.

It had worked, but not as she expected. She needed frothing mad rage, not delectation."Doth I detect a hint of deredere? Even as a demon, somewhere beneath all the hot air is just a fragile girl crying out for love after all, huh?" Konata exhorted in a joke format, but it came off a mess meaner than she had hoped. Perhaps this somewhat painfully truthful analysis was exactly what was needed during an affray, Kagami's harsher grip around her hands certainly seemed to accentuate this reasoning. Besides, in the context, aggravating the beast seemed far easier, and funnier, than placating her.

The endearment in Kagami's yellow demon eyes faded promptly at her friend's words, and in its place the hellion returned. The Dregling tore its hand from the human's and tackled its prey to the ground, curling her body over her food and inhaling sadistically, she reveled in delight of her first demonic meal, unwillingly so. Her powerful breath sucking inward from an open mouth suddenly began to glow with lambency, a demon's spell for absorbing souls. Konata's mouth shined brightly as well, and from it seemed to pour an essence of filmy vapor, which slowly trickled upward into the Dregling's own mouth.

There was no pain Konata noticed, but among the sensations she was still cognizant to, she could feel her muscles turn flaccid, and an extenuating fatigue consume her mind. She struggled against all insurmountable odds to remain inert, capable of doing so only because of a captivation that took her, a goddess that so cruelly mistook her affections for playful harassment. A soul who's altruistic and debatably liberal bestowment of love gave her the feeling of cherishment. True piety of an even truer woman, these were the only things that allowed her to shake the brass of the earth with her deeply laden borrowed courage.

To her, to wake up each day was a new opportunity to see Kagami smile, another memory of the pillar which she so regrettably stood upon that made her the being she was today. As to not miss out on another recollection she may have many years down the line, Konata happily stayed alert for each strained and agonizing second her body began to shut down from the soul-sucking process, for her love effaced all fear of the end.

Watching from the sidelines, Hiyori counted within her mind as to not escape the bounds of her prohibitive time table, there could be no mistakes."Now!" Hiyori ordered to the captain of the guard Yui, forcing the burden of their combined bodies against the Dregling with a brutish push, dashing the noticeably less aggressive and far more content demon to an adjacent hilly mess of shattered glass and unfastened gates of iron.

With purpose Yui approached the downed demon, easily managing to capture her within a simple grappling art, holding her still while Hiyori advanced with a spell already in hand, which Yui so duly noted was the exact same constriction spell that used blood as its instrument from earlier. Again she enacted the spell, this time no longer precarious of the conclusion, for it reached a most agreeable one. The bindings of crimson wove themselves mindfully around the Dregling, hardening and inhibiting her movement. This time however, Kagami did not protest, instead only slothfully emitting a displeased gasp. The demon within her was content, it had fed, and for the time being a brief respite was not only wanted, but necessary to retain function.

Motionless upon the ground, but conscious, Konata stiffly raised her head to observe the results of her risky sacrifice. She did so from the only position her sapped body could afford, for the demonic technique had expended nearly all of her vitality.

"Sweet…!" Konata cheered, drooping her neck back at the expense of losing Kagami from her sightline. It hurt not to know, but somehow, she was sure she had succeeded.

* * *

To say Carrot felt outclassed as she regarded the mage Miyuki, and the gunning Patricia battle an adversary even more skilled than they would be a gross understatement. The nimble, impromptu leaps and bounds of Patty made her envious of the girls physical capacity, and the mystifying and downright depleting force of Miyuki's magic racked her with guilt, for she knew she could not claim such fortitude, in the face of death or otherwise.

Even the crusader left her humbled, tirelessly did Minami swing, crush, and slash her oversized maul into the dust, missing her far more dexterously lithe opponents. As the hammer delineated the earth with its burdening form, the gravel below fragmentized into pieces too small to lift with human hands; they rained earnestly over the battlefield.

"You're pretty good…" Patricia jeered to the crusader, masking her languor with a careful grin. "But I'm better! Better than I was before, and certainly better than you!" She proposed indignantly, tearing away a fistful of fabric adorning her cloaked arms and showing the recondite revelation underneath.

The proud adventurer's arm was warped by some foul aura, cream flesh was crusted over by puffy sores and bulging veins that came together like the outer crust of cool magma, and it appeared to be growing like a fungus, spreading deeper into unseen portions of her body hidden by her clothing.

"Patty…what…?" Miyuki questioned rightfully, abhorred by the descent into demonic influence, especially by one so willful.

"Don't look so surprised, Yuki." Patty scoffed at the sorceress' clamoring. "This sword of the Dragon God, it was never meant to be held by human hands, there's bound to be side effects. This being that I seem to be breaking out in some sort of rash, it really itches too!" Irritated by the effects of her consuming transformation, the wanderer tore across her flesh with a relieving scratch, seemingly untroubled by the toll the relic was taking upon her flesh.

"Possession." Minami pointed out gratingly. "That blade is carved from the bones of dragons, the souls of the dead drakes used to make it lay within. What is happening to you is possession; they are claiming a new body for their own." The knight confessed with some sympathy, but she redacted this condolence when the adventurer remained aweless.

"Duh!" Patty answered back scornfully. "I wouldn't have spent all that time looking for it without doing some proper research. Speaking of…you know the origins of this blade, Minami-Chan? Yes, yes, it's made from the bones of dead dragons and all, but why?" The archer inquired to her adversary, to which the knight remained silent, the semantics behind an old sword weren't exactly terribly interesting to her.

"Why, Patty?" Miyuki asked, deciding to be the inquisitive one and humor Patricia, whom she hoped wasn't just stalling because she was afraid Minami could defeat both of them at any time. It certainly started to seem like it was looking that way, a deep trip south.

"Glad someone's interested! Now buckle up, it's exposition time!" Patty gloated with a smarmy grin, raising her herculean blade to the skies above. "This thing weighs several hundred pounds, and I can lift it like it was a naught but a feather! That's because the possession that's enhancing my body is that of the undead, the Dark Sign, same as you Minami-Chan!" She demonstrated the unnatural effects the blade had on her to the onlookers, twirling the massive slab of bones around like a baton, tossing it into the air and catching it by its lengthy handle, allowing all to behold her magnificence. "While dragons technically aren't undead, they are immortal; some of the more powerful ones can even live beyond death. However, while everlasting, that doesn't mean dragons can't die, and over the eons they sure have become quite the nest of cowards, those drakes." Patty retold wittingly, just how many times had she told this story, Miyuki wondered? How long had she obsessed over the facts surrounding her people's demise, and the history surrounding it?

"How so?" Miyuki questioned once more, finding herself shamefully enthralled by the tale, the scholar within her was nearly salivating at the mere mention of dragons, creatures whose undying existences were complete mysteries to most.

"Because despite all their knowledge, their strength, and even immortality, they still feared death. How pompous considering they claimed to be far above mankind, huh?" Patty ridiculed yet again, her dissonance with the dragon's ways seemed almost personal, perhaps because of their unwanted impact on her life in the form of the Dragon God. "They say on the edges of Boletaria lays a small kingdom of dragon slayers, hiding deep within the mountain-side. These dragoons once tried to eradicate all dragons from the earth…they failed obviously, but points for trying. They did however, succeed in creating this baby you see right here, the sword of the Dragon God!" Again she bragged, this time darting the blade in Iwasaki's direction. "The power of this blade lies in its make, as you say, the souls of dragons. And the reason that power is so potent is because dragons are immortal, and only those with the gift of endless life can slay the undying, hence why the dragoons needed its power. But the dragons could not touch the blade, it burned them like flame, and so their leader at the time the Dragon God, launched an assault on the dragoon homeland to claim the artifact that was so dangerous to them, and he swallowed the blade in hopes that the dragons could live. They woulda been able to as well, had Allant not come along." At the climax of Patty's tale, the recently revealed undead knight of Garland Minami began to feel a bit uneasy; she had a feeling where the conclusion of this story would lead.

"This blade can kill undead, is what you mean to say. It can kill me." Minami worriedly stated, discontinuing the wanderer's bombastic apologue at the conclusion, she did not require further narration on matters of dragons.

"Ring a ding ding, my dear! It wasn't the original reason I wanted this sword, but it's so fortuitous, isn't it? Like destiny or something. The only thing I ever wanted was to have a grand adventure, finding a sword crafted from the bones of gods seemed to be it, but it turned out that same adventure would give me the tool I needed to get revenge on those who destroyed my entire existence." She stepped forth at her words, an eerie aura permeating from her body, flushing a wide range of light to dark greens. "I thought after all this time I might return the favor!" She hollered with erupting choler, and with her mercurial wrath she avowed to herself a state of abandon, recklessly charging towards her opponent against the odds death's scales weighed for her.

Minami was prepared for the direct assault, but found herself planted; startled into stupefaction by a growing fear that's origins she could not place. She had been undead for so long she had almost forgotten the exhilarating rush of the end's forthcoming, the copper taste of blood in her mouth, or the corroding throb of pain.

So when the dull end of the Dragon God's sword compressed into her side, splitting through the armor and tearing the flesh from her bone, she wept, caterwauled in anguish as her spoiled form was flung at least a dozen feet skyward, and back down again to earth.

"Goddess…" Minami wailed in pain, allowing her blurry vision to fixate on her gruesome injuries as the initial shock of the collision left her. The entire side of her abdomen had been broken inward; she clutched the gory hole with her hands, the only shield managing to keep her lower internal organs within.

"I thought you said mortal powers were useless against you?" The wanderer grilled wickedly, casually prancing over to her riddled opponent and vulgarly stomping on her open wound, eliciting a sharp shriek of pain from the crusader. "Sure don't sound like it, sounds quite the opposite! Sounds like these mortal powers of mine are givin' you a real bad hurt." Sadistically Patty took pleasure in her opponent's heaving screams, her face contorted almost forcefully in a diabolical grin not her own. Miyuki almost instantly took notice of this, this was not Patricia. Even in a fit of hysteria several hours ago, Patricia's rage stood adamantly in the realm of sympathetic anger, not masochistic vehemence.

Patty didn't desire blood, she only wished for an end to her pain, closure. The woman that stood before her now, digging the steel of her boot into the wound of a downed opponent, was not the Patricia from her youth, and certainly not the plucky adventurer that had journeyed with them thus far. It was the sword, the blade of the Dragon God, just as Minami had said; it was possessing the poor girl in hopes of a host. The gall of the dragons and their fury towards mankind surfaced within the now fragmented Patricia's mind, and this separate identity was ushering in its animosity. This anger was not Patricia's own, the dragon's seemed to be amplifying the human's feelings tenfold, Patricia would never allow herself to willingly adhere to such barbarism.

"Patty you've won! That's enough!" Miyuki protested the sadism before her, cruelty of such cowardly caliber was unbefitting of a gentle soul like Patricia.

"How have I won?" The wanderer disagreed, her voice noticeably akin to other souls who shared a demonic influence, repeating her baneful tromp into Minami's innards. "She's alive! And there's no victory until she pays for what she's done." Ignoring the disapproval of her actions, she returned to her torture her foe with gleeful malice, almost astonished when she noted the muffled snap of a flame behind her. The snapping of the flame seemed to remove her from her trance, suddenly as she became aware of the gruesome torture she was inflicting upon Minami, as her human mind once again took hold, she didn't seem as lusty towards the crusader's demise, such pointless violence.

Removing her heel from Minami's wound and at last allowing the knight to catch her breath, Patricia faced the sorceress, a spell in hand, prepared to do what was necessary for the sake of morality. The wanderer only watched in mounting frustration as Miyuki silently passed her, hands curled with flames, and curbed herself adamantly in front of the knight of Garland.

"Yuki-Chan…what're you doing?" Overwhelmed with bewilderment, Patricia asked her childhood companion the nature of her bearing. Apparently, the dragons didn't have complete control over their newfound vassal as of yet, Patricia's consciousness still lingered.

"What's right." The mage retorted fervidly, perhaps even more perplexed by her own actions than Patricia. A slightly nauseating feeling rumbled in her gut from standing guard over her crippled enemy, but doing the right thing often left such feelings.

"What's right? And after all she's done you think her side is the right side? Do you even know who's half-mangled life you're saving right now?" Again, nearly stunned, Patricia asked, hoping to receive some equivalence of faculties, but the lawful façade the magician put up said most righteously otherwise.

"I do…but you don't know what I know, Patty-Chan. Some adversity in life is unavoidable, and even harder to accept, is that it's necessary for unity." Miyuki spoke of the chronicle of Yoshimizu valley her master had told her, something Patty wasn't savvy to. For a brief instance the mage pondered outright explaining the situation to her, but surmised it would be of no use. The dragons had already dug their claws deeply into Patty's psyche, her ramped up emotions wouldn't allow for understanding.

"How curious you humans are…" Minami pondered under a husky breath, coughing up a grand clot of blood in the process. "I see now what M'lady told me about the hearts of humans, that they are so easily swayed, deceived, and contrarily…uniquely special in their might. It is a power that runs deeper than skill with blade or tongue, or the security of molded flesh and bone. How I envy you, Takara-San…" The knight of Garland thanked in her own special way. For her, it was at least an improvement over complete silence or lack of an emotional aura of any kind, demons did after all, have a difficult time understanding the mannerisms of mortals.

"Great." Patty muttered bitterly, feeling the sting of tears forming in her eyes. "I knew you were on their side…I was even thinking about listening to you, your claim of innocence. You never seemed like the type to kill in cold blood, or at all. That's all over now I guess…I'm all alone in this crusade, nobody will help me….Back to being 'Patricia the Wanderer'." Testily she finished, checking her blade to the dust several times as she wiped a streak of the first tear from her cheek.

"_Rend."_

The collective of voices from within the sword christened her arm as their weapon, and her body their shield.

"_Slaughter."_

The collective of voices from within the sword demanded her obedience; she was strung up like a puppet to their will.

"_Destroy."_

The collective of voices from within the sword offered a chance, however slim, of revenge.

With such a slight contingent, Patricia's entire ego faded completely, the voices from within the sword beckoned to her, and she would not refuse them. When the hushed solicitations quieted, Patty found herself in the blackest void, too dark to see, but perhaps for the best. Whatever she had become on the outside, she was no longer Patricia. The dragons used her emotions against her for their own selfish gain. And yet this foul trickery did not dishearten her, she figured it was an even trade. The dragon's souls could have her body, as long as they used it to vanquish every last source of her pain.

"Patty…" Miyuki sympathized softly, wishing she could reach out to her companion, but knowing neither words nor actions would reach the sobbing child.

"Oh my…" Carrot muttered loud enough to alert the warriors roped about her, her eyes set upon the lumbering Storm King making yet another pass over the vast dormitory grounds. It had gotten close, close enough that several of the sky-scraping pillars of the church had begun to dig into its swelled belly, tearing them from their foundation and compressing lesser structures into rubble as the litter rained down upon them.

And if the destruction from the Arch-Fiend's proximity would not destroy the land, nature's own induced storm overhead would as it grew bolder, evolving from simple cracks of thunder to violently stabbing the earth with its instruments of wrath, the bolts of lightning that collided against the stony cliffs and even further destroyed temples. The Storm King echoed the blast's drive with its own bucking impulse, weeping to the heavens to abrogate its long abided pain; it called for their wrath to deface the temples below.

The wind picked up with the destruction below, ominously setting the scene for a bizarre necromantic explosion of energy upon the crest of the Storm King. This strange spectacle bore a dizzyingly tall pillar of light, sewn from seemingly nothing; it had split vertically from the Storm King's semblance of a head in a fantastic display. As the tower of energy clipped through the overcast, it ushered in a terrible rainstorm, forcing the retreat of the moisture within the very clouds to seek asylum over the temple grounds below.

Miyuki instantly drew attention to the spectacle, realizing it could only represent danger. Whatever the cryptic tower of light was, it meant ill tidings for all in its presence. Minami too, drew in a troubled gasp at the sight, for she knew what was to come of such arcane displays, death. Her lady was certainly not winning her battle with the Monumental's servants.

"Whether thine allies up above have achieved this meager victory or non, they too shalt perish." Patty, or upon closer inspection, the dragons that possessed her body, taunted at her newly met foes in a distinctly deep male voice. The girl, externally, still seemed to be the same Patricia, but the voice stemming from her offered a different theory. Perhaps the dragons had finally fully possessed her, just as Minami warned.

"Patty…? Your voice…" Miyuki probed tensely, forcing her divided attention back to her former ally, disturbed by the dissimilar dulcet of voices the dragons offered, the voices of many flowing from the mouth of one.

"The mortal girl is no longer here. Nay, mine countenance comes in her place, the architects of thine mortal's planet's very design." The dragons elucidated arrogantly, plastering a new scale or gaseous tumor upon Patricia's flesh with every godly word.

"Naught but scaly sloths…" Minami parodied even under the immense weight of her pain. "The world is doomed to die and the gods sit by and scoff." She again derided, with a twang of hurtful squeak in her voice. The evidence of abandonment from the divine was clearly evident by her words.

"But of course." The drakes sneered knowingly. "Thou art mortals, thou sins are thine own and not by the instruction of the pure divine. Verily, the consequences actualized by thine kind must be dealt with at a mortal's brief discretion alone." Condescendingly the dragons related, referring to the miasma of the Old One that steadily consumed the world in its toxic brume, a horror brought about my men, not gods.

Carrot cringed at the words of the immortals, she of all people had come to know the selfish wrath of the beings of a higher existence all of her short life. Very rarely did gods interfere in the lives of men, but it seemed in her case, they had a spare moment to meddle in her life, and destroy one utterly that she loved quite dearly. "Not all gods are as undiluted as you make them out to be. Your kind suffers from greed, impudence, and hatred like any unwashed man." The priestess Carrot criticized harshly, noticing the reciprocated biased comments had marginally angered the gods before her, from within they furrowed Patricia's cocked eyebrows into a seething, angry grit of the teeth.

"Hmph, perhaps we were presumptuous in our claim." The drakes feigned guilt, arcing the body of their puppet, Patricia, into a striking war stance. "But our own crimes are obscured by time, yet thine crimes are known to us. The slayers of the ageless embodiment of our will, the Dragon God, by our host's mortal hands no less. Before we depart to greater things, we wouldst have a chance at revenge." The almighty issued to the mortals before their holy grace, staunch in their solid slant, sword of the Dragon God within their hands still stained by the blood of the undead.

To beg for a reprieve was Miyuki's first instinct, there were far more pressing matters to attend to than an emotionally razed girl possessed by an equally unpredictable mass of gods, namely the destruction of the Storm King, and Kagami's rejuvenation. Dragons saw themselves as far above human affairs however, the battle of the Arch-Fiends, the life of a single human, or the Old One's anabolism of the planet's life blood bore them no tremor of nuisance, not even slightly; it was utterly insubstantial to ones such as they.

To those who lived endlessly without the weight of sin holding back their closed claws, the end of the world was immaterial to them, and astonishingly romantic. When the last man carried out his final breath amongst the ashes of the afterglow, the dragons would be there still regardless of the outcome, prepared to remake the world in their favor as they had done in the wake of many a worldly cataclysm.

"What will be, will be." Miyuki precariously declared, knowing too well the fabrics of destiny had no intention of allowing her to assist in the Arch-Fiend's destruction or Kagami's rescue, nay, she was bedeviled to combat a timely irrelevant otherworldly foe.

Carrot too stood by her side not as a warrior, but as an extra arm or leg should she need it, which assuredly against a foe of such moonstruck force, she most definitely would.

Far stranger was the appearance of Minami, quaking with a vitreous stutter from her torn stomach, but nonetheless remaining recklessly cocked. "Were I to be with M'lady now, twould be fate. But alas I stand here, gut wrought upon like a dogged animal." The Garland Knight repined flatly, somehow maintaining her composure. Duly did she clench the severed crack of flesh down her abdomen and closed it by some felonious aura of green gases. And while the wound faded, it left with it a horrific scald upon the showing bits of her flesh; even the undead held the scars of the past. "If I ever wish to see M'lady again, I find my greatest chances lay on a less godly side." While hidden beneath self-regard, the crusader still seemed to abjectly inaugurate a truce with her foes, if only for the sake of combating a greater threat.

Carrot was wholly crestfallen with the unforeseen harmony between bitter enemies, but for a more improvident reason that expected. "Had we discussed this like rational people, this entire fight could have been avoided…and we would not have required your aid after your attempted murder of well…everyone here." She disparaged meekly, to Minami more selectively. The crusader brushed off the comment with a shame-filled blush; it was conjecturable that the knight was following a similar line of thinking, but to the opposing sides.

"What will be, will be." Minami echoed Miyuki's words, bearing her maul towards Patricia with them spoken idyllically.

Miyuki complied with a hum, now fearful of Patricia's chances of arriving at the end of the action unscathed. "Try your best not to harm her, please." She made the request grimly, knowing well such lenience could nary be provided against such a dangerous enemy, but her allies seemed to acknowledge the plea, no matter how hopeless it was.

"Such foresight. 'Tis the way of mortals after all, no?" The dragons dissented mournfully, readying their host Patricia for the upcoming melee. "Unchanging." The underhanded comments held inside them a mingling truth, one that the mortals surrounding the god's sterling visage could not deny, yet could adversely espouse.

"I disagree." Miyuki clashed back at the comment. "It is mankind's greatest asset, is it not? Free will, the power to change…something an endless being such as yourself could not fathom." It was abnormal for the sorceress to be derisory in any context, but the superfluous hurdling of insults by the dragons seemed not only childish and unnecessary, but a further example of their hubris. One she would make known to them, if only in defense of innocent mortals everywhere.

"How droll." The dragons pondered whimsically. "Now…die!" With their killing commandment they leapt from within Patricia, hurdling her body at a flashing speed towards the trio of mortals, effortlessly knocking all of them to the ground with a swirling thrust of a kick.

From below the dragon's waist Miyuki latched on boldly, trying her hardest to warp the rotten soil below them both to provoke the endless thickets of weeds buried within. She succeeded despite the rough handling, and a timely array of thick, pliable vines burst forth from the ground and knotted and twisted themselves around their target. The pouring rain seemed to supplement the otherwise dry, unnatural plants, it was almost as if it ingrained within them a hardier vitality, thanks be at least the tower of light jutting from the Storm King's head had done them at least one kindness.

"Thou seeketh to use the very foundations of thine planet against mine countenance? Bah!" The dragons belittled, tearing from the suffocating hold of the grassy wrappings and boundlessly leaping into the sky, far above the temples rooftops and long since dead chimneys, only to fall back down to earth crushingly onto the still ground-bedded Miyuki.

The stress of Patricia's metal-tipped boots, combined with the depth and speed of the dragons soaring leap had nearly grafted the cleats onto Miyuki's still magic infused arm. Her forearm bones snapped grotesquely, ripping through her thin flesh and protruding out in the open air, summating her pain by the uncaringly astringent beats of wind and icy rain.

Though she did not scream, not even to relieve any immediate, and likely immense, stress she was feeling at that moment. Miyuki moaned and sobbed, muffled by a clamped duck-lipped frown, and this was all she could allow by the mandate of her people's morals. The body is only a shell, it is what is intangible within that taps into man's true potential, as such, the body can be disfigured yet repaired with time, unfortunately the dormant souls within were offered no such charities. In addition to her people's slightly questionable ethics, a mage in pain, weakened in mind was the perfect target for any demon or body snatcher looking for an easy host to invade and control. As such, she couldn't allow herself a display of weakness, even for something as trivial as physical pain.

However this pain was readily apparent, and Carrot spied the gruesome affliction as she watched humbly, and knew that in defiance of her prowess in combat, she was a cleric and she saw an ailing that was within her power dull. She wished to assist Miyuki, but secretly couldn't help but thank the force that saved her most anemic well being from a likely fate, in the form of a far more contentious Minami that gave a full charge past her, waving her maul with a heavy force in disobedience of Miyuki's passive orders.

But a killing blow would not be achieved; Patricia's strength in body had been amplified to staggering levels, surpassing that of many great and powerful demons thanks to the ancient gifts bestowed upon from the endless dragons within. The dragons employed an exemplary model for this trait of might by stalling Minami's human-sized hammer with Patricia's free hand alone; palm delicately flowered over the broad end of the weapon.

"Impossible…" Minami croaked in disbelief, pressing her own brawn into a penetrating push, frighteningly finding that her own strength was no match for that of the dragons. Another bullish heave of weight again hit the point home; she couldn't drive her opponent even an inch backward.

She returned her maul from the guard, and figured being anything but succinct in the matter of fighting a god would only be straining to her. She swung again, a second time, third time, until her swings gushed in full force, each and every hammer down of the maul being locked from advance by Patricia's open palm.

Minami exuded despair at the battle's outlook; despite all her demonic aptitude she was utterly inferior to these deities. She knew she could not fail here, her lady depended on her comprehensively, the grand import of their journey to preserve the Old One's seal could not fail.

"Be it time for our turn?" The dragons asked cockily, perceiving the crusader's silence as an affirmation. "Wonderful." With the celebratory term, Patricia disappeared completely, nothing but a vague outline of a human body stood in the eventide. The flooding rain made seeing the cloud of bodily essence nearly impossible, and even whilst playing defensively, Minami readied herself pensively for a brutal assault.

And it came sumptuously, a series of lightning-quick, jarring punches to her bruising cheeks a dozen times over. They knocked the pooling spit and blood by droves from her throat, until the finale of the onslaught of fists ended with a rudimentary kick to her armored chest, which thanks be took the brunt of the pain.

Yet it staggered her drastically, leaving her tripping over her own armored boots until the slick, slippery mud beneath her feet caved into an amalgamating puddle of filth and pooling rainwater. She fell hard, the weight of her armor crushing her fragile body within, sweeping the breath from her lungs.

Minami struggled to stand, but her movements were rendered inert, a mild shock coursed through her bones that disallowed her an opportunity to even stand to face this threat, the fatigue she was beginning to feel was decidedly human, despite her demonic vigor.

"Thou be a demon, aye?" The drakes inquired from a place of uncertainty, their host's body still cloaked in a superlative camouflage. "Then how come thou do not ken our powers? We are cut from the same cloth, gods and demons, thou be our spawn after all! Yet the strength ye rely upon…it be human, ye do not tap into thine true potential…for what purpose be this, demon?" The gods asked rather confusedly, empathetically nonplussed by their opponents lack of tenet towards their own design.

Sitting upwards coolly, free of her shock, Minami felt the presence of the dragon encircling her; nonchalantly observing it's spoiled prey. It procrastinated purely for pleasure she guessed, the gods saw mortals, human or non, sentient or unaware, as tools and playthings for their august compositions of the cosmos.

But as to the answer of the invasive question, did the reply truly matter? The god had gauged the reaction it had hoped for, one of abashed despondency. She did not see her demonic blood as a luxury, or her undying body as a shield from death, she saw them only as tools to further her lady's ideals. She hated being a demon; it disgusted her to see her wicked body regenerate wounds, or to remain youthful even as time passed. She did not rely upon her demonic strength save when she was forced to do so, in situations where she truly believed her lady's life was in jeopardy.

"She needn't answer you." Carrot retorted heatedly from the sidelines, hands on her hips as she fearlessly walked into the direction of the combatants and settled herself near an injured, and still in shock Miyuki. She did what little mending she could, placing the same emerald bubble of magical gel over the sorceress' broken arm, allowing the radical herbal remedy to desensitize any pain it could.

"And ye needn't interrupt a god's questions, mortal!" The dragons furiously vociferated, emerging from the blank illusion it had cast upon itself, directly behind Carrot's kneeling form.

To counter human's brusque tongue, the gods drove an implacable jab to the thick of the priestess' neck, emitting a crumbling cough as her weak body collapsed onto Miyuki's. Carrot mollified her burning neck by sobbing gratingly, ever more mirthful when she felt Miyuki's unsteady hand brooch around her own, genially holding it for support even as the mage lost consciousness from the now alarming blood loss from her shattered arm.

"S-S-She needn't!" Carrot repeated, feigning bravery despite a clear stutter. "Her course is her o-own! A g-g-god could never u-understand a mortal's p-plight!" She keened sorely, clamping her body rigid when she rightfully expected another malevolent bash.

And it came twice has hard, again drooping the cleric onto a now defunct Miyuki, lost in unconsciousness. Carrot's bangs hid her billowy eyes, oozing with tears and delineated over by streaks of blood escaping the gash upon her neck and skull.

"G-G-God's needn't question m-mortals, we are far too disparate." Carrot suggested to her tormentor's fury."Humankind constantly questions the rights and wrongs of the gods, because to your kind it is a mortal's place to question everything, we couldn't possibly comprehend a god's will. But for you to question us, those you created, how insolent! How cruel!" She wailed, staining her frilly white sleeves with the blinding tears and blood upon her face. "You made us the way we are, irrational, empathetic, and sometimes hateful. You know our design and yet dare to question why we act as we do?" Decorously, the chaplain asked, both rhetorically and in the hopes of some type of enlightenment from a mind of higher thought, but knew deep down any answers given would be circumspect, vague, or all around irrelevant, as seemed to be the way of gods.

To Carrot, when it came to the gods and their relationship with humans, it was as if a set of parents conditioned their child to dislike certain varieties of food, then for whatever sake presented said foods to the child as the only type of nourishment. When the child refused to eat them, the parents, instead of being understanding of their offspring's fear of the food, are confused and admonish the child for their own irrational behavior.

Therein showed the redoubtable similarities between mortals and divinities, more alike in their own obstinate ways than they realized, particularly on the side of gods, who so arrogantly claimed to be of a superior way of deliberation of all things. When in reality they shown just as much hypocrisy and ignorance as the men they created. Perhaps it was this that caused the dragons to display such wrath at Carrot's catechisms of a common thing like morality. It brought the dragons such discomfort for the same reason it brought man woe to misinterpret and falsify the god's words, because they did the same to mankind.

There was a barrier between them, impassable; neither side could ever fathom what it would be like to be the other, for their entire existences were built upon separate wavelengths.

While inconspicuous to the mortals, reflectively the dragons saw error in their own statements, and terrible truths from the cleric. Nevertheless, a god's imperiousness was peerless, largely narcissistic, to admit imperfection would be mortal, something a god could never do.

"Impudent…mortal trash!" The dragons castigated, completely demoralized from being looked down upon by a human, a being as expendable as mere objects to those who do not die.

In response to this defiling of a god's apperception, they willed Patricia's hands to raise the Dragon God's sword overhead, preparing to cleave the contumelious Carrot in two for her disrespectful commentary on the nature of gods.

Were the blade to reach the target, both the magician and the cleric would perish, their bodies a mess of disjoined limbs and organs. Yet this would not come to pass in the eyes of another, touched by the cleric's altruism, and disregard of a god's will to fight for the respect of mankind.

"Hold!" The crusader, Minami, christened to the antagonized gods, throwing herself with her maul as a shield, in front of the downed Carrot and Miyuki and absorbing the whole of the attack through her hammer's breadth. Even though her health failed her, she found it judicious to apply at least a fraction of her demonic endurance, even though it was for a cause other than defending her lady from the world's evils.

"Thou wouldst…defend humans? Those who hate thine kind?" The dragons asked challengingly, awestruck at the lengths one of its own spawn would go to save beings who inherently despise her.

In retrospect, Minami didn't entirely understand her actions either. It was true they were her enemies; they had even attempted to take away her lady's life once before, a thing more precious to her than her own. These aberrant thoughts were alarming and intrusive, yet she did not turn away from them. They were deviant in essence, but to her the justifications for doing so seemed to outweigh the sin of the actions themselves. These human thoughts, how nostalgic they were, she longingly recalled, for she too, in a time long ago was but a mortal girl.

"I…I am unsure of myself…" Minami articulated poorly, confounded by her own behavior. "Yet I feel…strangely as if I have done this before, for another...in a time when I still feared death." The crusader related mysteriously, voice replete with uncertainty, she seemed to struggle to recall the specifics of the memory she spoke of.

"Ha...ha…hahaha!" The wyverns cackled with amusement. "Mortals…"

* * *

Bestriding over an appeased, considerably injured, and attenuating Kagami, Konata Izumi glowered with a rough choke. It was difficult to maintain dispassion when her friend was rendered in such a state of throe, heedless of the impending time limit she suffered, or the uncanny sky-manta, the Arch fiend, above that required a heavy dose of slaying.

She watched sorrowfully as it passed overhead through a gaping hole in the church's caved in ceiling, leaving the cliff side yet again to stride over the open seas, bringing about rain with it as the tower of light seated atop its head sliced through the overhead clouds.

The battle was out of her hands now, perhaps it was never even within her grasp to reinforce her friends, it was her desire and obligation to stay behind and ensure Kagami's safety. After all, her friends curse was placed upon her by her own unmindful actions. So even if she felt left out of the struggle as she became aware of the chaos channeling in the form of the mysterious ray of light, it was selfish of her to think as such.

"Now we can only wait, right?" Konata asked weakly, still fatigued from her near-death soul-sucking experience as she clutched her heaving chest for a hold to its restless quake. "Wait until the others…" She stopped herself, fretful of their ambiguous safety. "Until they bring that sucker outta the sky, right!?" She directed the question at Hiyori with a light and happy cheer, but the magician frustratingly offered a disconcerted shrug.

"Yeah, that's the idea." Hiyori noted offhandedly. "But I have the upmost faith in your friends! They're fighting with the powers of love and justice, they're practically invincible! Pointy things for stabbing help too, and they've got lots of those." The mage guaranteed to the presently doubtful bluenette, a trait likely adopted by the soul-crushing despondency of the unfolding of recent events, one she certainly hoped wouldn't stick with her as her journey to destroy the Arch-Fiends hopefully continued.

From the sod below them Yui huffed an interrupting cough, slaving to sit upward from her resting slouch thanks to the injuries suffered from the Dregling. "They could use a few more, we need to help them." Insisted the knight, holding up her heavy body with her scabbard, but a skeptical Hiyori only nervously chuckled at the assertion.

"The two of you can barely stand." The bespectacled witch pointed out, rather obviously. "And I'm far too laz- I…I mean, I need to stand guard over Kagami, to make sure the soul transplanting process goes accordingly." She shunted smoothly, but the loutish attitude held with it a certain truth, neither Konata nor her elder cousin knew anything about the soul arts.

"But it feels so wrong…plus, sitting around in comparison to fighting a giant demon in an epic duel is pretty boring, huh? Who knows what fun I'm missing out on!" Konata furthered her frustration, keeling slowly onto her knees with a declining energy, next to her sick, Dregling friend.

"Well…" Hiyori sputtered faintly, resting near the Dregling as well. "Lucky for your anxiety, I have an announcement! There's more work to be done." She revealed, placing a finger on Kagami's chest for indication of the next step.

"Whaaaaaat?" Konata inquired as she gripped her aching body, protesting by a hard voice at having been misled.

"Ya, I neglected to say earlier, mostly due to love here going bananas, but um…" Hiyori began her excuse carefully, tapping her pointer-fingers together timidly. "I've…never actually…_successfully_ transplanted a demon's soul to a human body without…well, side-effects." She confessed censurably, feeling the prickles of animosity spread her direction.

Yui head jerked forward heatedly, and perhaps more aggressively, than need be. "Side-effects!? That's the type of thing you should probably mention from the get-go! What type of side-effects!?" Solicitously the captain demanded, only drawing out more sinking shame from Hiyori.

"Tentacles." Hiyori started, triggering revulsion from the cousins. "After that, wings and feathers." She seconded the horror. "There were also scales, claws, eye-balls in places they shouldn't have been…and bunions and contusions oozing neon slime that would put rainbows to shame." She concluded, one-upping herself with every disgusting addition befalling previous test subjects, or in those cases victims, who succumbed to the demon's soul during the transference process.

Konata clutched her throat with an eye-twitching 'yeesh', imagining what Kagami might look like if she underwent the transformation, it was a abominable manifestation she couldn't find herself backing in any respect, not even jokingly. "While the erotic possibilities of monster Kagamin are endless…yeah, that probably won't do…but by your earlier enthusiasm I'm guessing you've got a plan?" She questioned of the earlier claim of success, and unsurprisingly, Hiyori remained optimistic.

"Right!" The witch confirmed with a nodding wink. "For the longest time I thought only the soul of a human could be used in the transference process, that there could be no substitute. How limited my scope was…I feel ashamed just recalling such imperceptive times!" Hiyori recoiled, cringing with visible antipathy at her memories.

"Long story short?" Konata begged, realizing Kagami probably didn't have enough time remaining for a long-winded story.

"Ah, right, sorry." Hiyori started with an apology. "Well, long story short I discovered that human beings are capable of being implanted with the souls of demons too, _but_, there's a bit of…psychology involved, not exactly my area of expertise. Everybody's brain is different, and therefore not every brain will react the same to every external and internal phenomena it undergoes…in this case, soul implantation from a demon." Hiyori explained as thoroughly as possible, minus the core of the theory, which thankfully Yui actualized on her own.

"So, she could reject the soul?" Yui asked for confirmation, even though she knew she was correct.

The sorceress concurred with a half-nod, but remained expectant. "Yes, there's a good chance _if_ we don't do anything about it, so it's great that we've got a full supply of damns to give! We can force, erm that is to say, coerce her body into accepting the soul with a little in depth exploration of her mind." She related, again impalpably, drawing the cousins doubtful eyes together.

"Uh, what?" Konata wondered aloud amidst a murmur of chagrin, or lecherous excitement, Hiyori couldn't really tell.

"You heard me." Hiyori rebuked, hands no longer idle, grouped fingers checking Kagami's pulse in various areas before she seemed content. "The human mind is an inclusive world of thought, impulse, memories, observations, inclinations, desires, apprehensions and perhaps most important of all, emotion." She laid out for the cousins. "It's stunning that while we know everything there is to know and more about our own minds, somehow the patterns that human thoughts can take continue to confound us more and more by the day." Puzzling the sorceress pondered, peeling fatty cheek skin from underneath Kagami's eyes to examine her pupils carefully.

The cousin's silence on the lesson of the human mind prompted a still delaying Hiyori to take from the calm as an insinuation of an unspoken 'therefore'.

"Therefore." Hiyori stated, reeling herself from perplexing thoughts. "I can temporarily link your soul with hers, allowing the two of you to share a dream world of sorts, in which you can redirect her natural human emotions to become accepting of the extrinsic soul." The mage finally made clear, to which of course the two kin were noticeably bewildered.

"So, I can enter Kagamin's dreams?" Konata proposed correctly, at the very least retaining that key piece of information.

"Precisely." Hiyori complied, hands tied behind her back scholarly. "And from within, all that is left to do is locate her within the dreamscape, and convince her to take the Storm King's soul into her own." The witch concluded, again using a peculiar word like convince, a term implying insecurity.

"Why would I have to convince her?" Konata challenged at the command, perplexed as to why she would have to convince any right-minded individual to accede a cure for a deadly illness into themselves.

"Ah…well." Hiyori stuttered, iffy of the revelation. "You'll see, it's hard to put into words." With that enigmatical asseveration, Hiyori returned to the ground at her feet, digging her fingers into a pile of rubble fanatically, Konata could only scratch her head with confusion and instead decide to focus on Kagami's jaded expression.

Unbeknownst to the bluenette, Hiyori had just located a considerable brick of charred church-wall stone in her hands, which she hoisted above her head and merrily skipped over to the inquisitive Izumi.

"Hey…what're you doing?" Yui asked aghast, but the mage did not respond.

"So, how do I get into her dreams? You gonna remove our brains, or something awesome like that? Like something out of some mad scientist…" As the endless sputtering of words left Konata's lips, the rebuttal arrived in the shape of a hefty wallop to the back of her skull from the slab of stone Hiyori held, which effortlessly knocked the petite girl unconscious with a resounding chain of gasps and drafts of dust and rock upon her collapse.

"Like so!" Hiyori jocundly replied, purposefully a second late.

* * *

"Aw great…we're too late for…whatever the heck is happening up ahead." Misao whimpered in her condition of lassitude, misjudging the grounds distance from her galloping feet with each long stride she took, the fatigue muddied her acumen concerning length it seemed. The epitome of a maze around them, the endless forest of the Storm King's hide, would be impossible to traverse without the beacon of light that carried them forward.

What she spoke of in the context of their eleventh-hour arrival, was the esoteric citadel, a seizure generating column of light in the distance where Yutaka had fled to. Whatever lay in the direction of the mysterious panorama, it seemed ominously oracular, a premonition of supernatural workings at hand.

The occult happenings rocked the forest with anxiety, animals fled in all directions opposite of the consuming glow, the trees bent themselves contrariwise, pleading to escape from the pressurized suction beget from the spiraling light.

Any plant or animal not rooted or matured enough to outmatch the overruling gusts were swept up in its current, carried away into the green blanket of trees overhead and up away, to the sky. The current of wind, furious like a river, almost took the feathery Tsukasa with it, had Misao not expeditiously grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her forward.

To seal their connection, and attempt to counterbalance the raging winds, Tsukasa reached out her other hand and fastened it into Kuroi's, making a hopefully unbreakable chain that would allow them to slowly reach every robust tree trunk.

Immovably they ascended the unsteady ascent, which they noticed stemmed from the climbing angle the Storm King had suddenly taken, moving farther above the clouds, likely to escape whatever commotion was unfolding upon its hide.

Despite the impermanent current, which turned on and off in levels of harsh to easier flows, the trio managed to scale the short distance by clinging to the burly trees, at last arriving at the stem of the cylinder ablaze with color.

There stood Yutaka, hands outstretched, etching her fingers into the fluidic avatar of devilry, the enigmatic tower of light. Entranced, she mingled her hands within the goopy tower, water-like in composition, reaching within for some unseen object feverishly. The ubiquitous monsoon diverged from its gravity-destined path, resistant to the pull of the wind; it mutinously bypassed the area of operation which the priestess worked within, supernaturally circumnavigating the tower by exerting the rain and winds diagonally away. In the presence of the column of light, the Monumental's warriors could stand easily, no longer under the heavy threat of the storm's furious winds or drenching rain.

The base of the glowing shaft was fused to the grassy hide of the Storm King by engrossing wedges of fleshy globs that netted themselves up the tower's height in a web of pulsing veins and tumor-like swells.

While the majority of the Storm King's forest appeared to be lush and vibrant, the setting about the fleshy tower of light seemed almost monochrome. The trees were broken and dilapidated, the grass was snarled and black, everything the light of the tower came upon decayed.

"Hey you! You…" Misao trailed off perplexedly, removing herself from the human link of her allies hands and covering her eyes from the oppressive flash of the blazing light. "What am I even looking at?" She asked dumbfounded, at this point she was almost considering completely disassociating her brain from all future events regarding the Arch-Demons to preserve her sanity.

"The apotheosis of mankind's will." Yutaka explicated hazily, having finally came upon the object she sought in the gelatinous tower, made apparent to be a long, thin, blood-covered tube somewhat resembling an umbilical cord.

"Mankind is so messed up." Misao jested, shaking her head in disbelief.

"On the contrary, I find mankind to be flawless in its beauty. Erroneous and immature in their incumbency, yet so powerful and determined." The priestess Yutaka remonstrated, working as she spoke, unsheathing an elegant dagger from a small, strapped scabbard hidden up her sleeve. With it, she raised it to the tower, bathing it within its structure and producing a resplendent array of sheen from its metal.

"Let us not make the mistake of hero's past, yes?" Kuroi counseled to her allies, unlatching her own blades in preparation of the death of an endless cliché. "No villain monologues from this one whilst we stand here mouths agape, she dies now." The assassin advised, being the first of the three to storm the tower of light's personal space, only to smack face first into an invisible force field apparently wrangled around the area which propelled her to her buttocks.

"I didn't know you could fall down!" Misao fooled with a hearty laugh. "You were probably more anchored when you were drunk earlier." Somewhat rightfully she joked, for one so aloof like Nanako Kuroi, to even see her in a state of very human vulnerability was somewhat amusing.

"Ha! Let's not saying anything we'll regret, kiddo." Kuroi beamed with annoyance, standing to her feet and smearing the dirt from her chin.

Being the only one frozen in place with horror, Tsukasa felt the resounding need for answers she knew her fellows would not seek, as warriors, Misao and Kuroi were far too at peace with the paranormal, something as a more genial soul she couldn't even begin to understand.

"Yutaka…what is this?" Tsukasa repeated Misao's line of questioning; observing that in this instance the crusader offered a more funereal expression at the question.

"I spoke truthfully, this is a glorification of mankind's will for the Old One to remain made manifest by myself." She again inferred from her earlier comment. "I drew upon the Storm King's fractured psyche using our mutual demon blood as a link of energy, and gave it an extant form outside of its mind…this…tower of light you see, is pure soul energy, an accumulation of the many thousands of souls the Storm King has devoured since the Old One subsumed itself within its mind." She apprised, still slightly indistinct in her explication.

"Psyche…? Made manifest…?" Misao replicated the explanations key misunderstood phrases. "Is there a science behind that, or…?" She honestly asked, questioning the legitimacy of some of the things the priestess spoke of, it sounded like a bunch of gobbledygook befitting such a bizarre situation.

"Um…" Yutaka flushed with agitation, realizing she barely understood it herself; it just seemed to come naturally to her. "Magic, perhaps…?" Penitently the crusader hypothesized, mewling with a disconsolate frown when her asperser's shook their heads, or at least Misao did, miffed like a child who didn't receive a wanted answer from their parent.

"That's what I thought. This adventure is dumb!" The fanged drudge wailed, submitting herself to the ludicrous position she found herself in. She realized the futility of fighting the crazy current, better to just roll with every crazy punch and reluctantly endure the crazy journey.

"Why have you done this?" Tsukasa probed further, more curiously analytical than she ought to have been, Kuroi noticed suspiciously; perhaps it was the tone of desperation.

"To stop you." Yutaka began sorrowfully. "The Monumental and its agents cannot coincide with the Old One, your fight will encompass the world within its defoliation, this…I cannot allow." She reconciled, pulling the knife from the jelly tower and examining the clingy goo of a soul mass upon its steel.

Dagger in hand, and fleshy tendril fished from the tower in the other, Yutaka proceeded to carve a suitable hole within her belly, flinching profoundly at the needling ache as her stomach tore open.

"Woah! What the hell are you doing!? Stop kid, stop!" Misao shrieked with unexpected worry, slamming her fists on the impenetrable bubble of a force field in hopes of stopping the display of madness.

"The Storm King and I…" Yutaka breathed out strenuously. "We must be made one flesh." She divulged, luridly pulling one of her intestines several inches from her open wound, and attaching the fleshy cord from the tower of light to herself with a fusing blast of fiery magic, connecting her to the tower by her body alone. "To ensure the Storm King's continuance, I meld my life with its own, so that our fates may ally, and our power, may be united." Each word lengthier than the last, Yutaka explained the unpleasant means by which she fused herself to the Storm King.

"Macabre, man…why is everyone I meet an anomaly? Completely dysfunctional! Freaks, everywhere I go!" Misao protested to the absurdity, resigning her banging upon the bubble and cautiously observing as the milky white glow began to permeate around Yutaka's body as well, incorporating her into its illustrious blossom.

Kuroi put two and two together while discerning the phenomenon; coming to a most useful conclusion should they have any future altercations with the crusaders. "That blade, you doused it in souls so you could injure yourself genuinely…a brand of demons only harmed by the soul arts?" The hit-woman claimed rightly, but was offered little more than a bashful pout.

"N…No! T-That's not true!" Yutaka argued against the claim, but her blushing cheeks couldn't hide the truth, nor could the very girlish, very childish mewling of sadness.

"Yeeeees. It so is!" Kuroi snickered proudly, content with herself for outwitting a child, though she ought not to have been.

Misao sighed with relief, preparing another dose of bellyaching at its end. "Thanks be with the gods for that analysis sensei…not sure our readers could take any more proper nouns and contrived bits of lore." She plaintively moaned, ascribing her alleviated fears to an unknown source.

"What?" Kuroi asked, brow raised, believing her friend to have reached the nirvana of madness.

"Nothing." The slave Misao hastily amended, returning her attention to the situation at hand.

"Warriors of the Monumental." Yutaka declared somewhat affably, her face alight with an almost positive aura; she seemed to childishly enjoy her role of profligate. "My will is known! The will of our world!" She stated joyously with a smile, wondering juvenilely what Minami would make of her bravery, fighting their enemies by herself without the brave knight to defend her. The hoydenish behavior made her crack up slightly with a girlish giggle; all faces opposing her were blank with awe.

"Is she laughing?" Misao wondered in astonishment. "Next stop, crazy train! I'm hopping aboard too! Bahahaha!" She cracked up witlessly, dropping to her knees in a broken and infuriating laughter.

"Forgive me, warriors of the Monumental." Yutaka pardoned herself, wiping the tear of laughter from her eye. "It is most unusual for me to act on my own, without my trusted confidant as my aegis. It is…humorous to see myself act this way." She exposed unpleasantly, or pleasantly from a certain point of view.

Misao stalled her manic chortle at the sentiment. "You hear that? She thinks it's funny…pfft..." She ended as she reclined back into awry snickers, perhaps as a way of coping.

"Storm King, lend me your strength!" Yutaka began powerfully. "Cast down those who would harm you!" By her words, Yutaka's outline of glow ruptured into an expansive cocoon of fluorescent shine, the Storm King wordlessly seemed to heed her call and offer its aid, agglutinating its own demonic force with her own in an effort to stop the invaders at any cost.

From the blinding light was born an extensive band of demons. Skeletons, Dreglings, shadow-men and more curious tentacle-laden things stepped forth, swords, claws and fangs bared at the aliens who desecrated their master's confines.

An orchestra of snarls and growling roars were flung the Monumental's warrior's way, and they armed themselves readily, regardless of the very uneven odds in terms of bodies on each side.

Affrontingly, the Storm Kings lesser manta spawn shoveled a heap of lightning-bolt magic the trio's way, stabbing the earth with the electrically infused icicles by the dozens, seemingly only for intimidation, as they missed every mark.

"Misao, upsy daisy, the fight is here." Kuroi commanded, glaring disdainfully when the slave showed no signs of setting her poise.

"I can't, I've been driven insane." Misao reposted, heeding the behest when the assassin dug an uncaring boot into her stomach, forcing her to jump upward to grasp at her fuming belly. "Jeeze, alright! I don't even have a weapon!" The weaponless drudge fretted, smugly watching as Kuroi looked left, then right, and finally back as she pulled one of the manta spawn's electric icicles from the ground.

"Use this." Kuroi awarded, tossing the frozen spear-like entity to Misao's awaiting hands.

Now a spear-woman once more, Misao caught and examined the lance like a fisherman, scraping its surface for affirmation of its authenticity, for the elusive fish she truly wished to catch, or in this case the right weapon for use in stabbing things barbarously. Misao was always more of a taste tester however, to see with the eyes or listen with the ears was great and all, but something's true constitution or worth could only be found by the sense of taste. She glided her tongue carnally across its surface, convulsing into a series of shivering shakes when she recognized the nauseating taste immediately.

"Pee. This icicle-spear is made out of pee." She affirmed, not noticing her ally's faces of appropriate disgust. "Yeah, this is pretty fitting for me, huh? My whole life is a mockery at this point." Again Misao complied to the majestic sadist that was life as a whole, rolling with the punches was all she could do.

Preparations made and peace with god attained or not, the demons barreled at their human prey, so unassuming towards the hinging battle. An unlucky shadow-man was the first to be cut down, by of course the already livid Misao, who didn't even give it a second glance as she melted from her relaxed stance into that of a warrior in a mere movement of her feet.

The icicle of frozen urine she wielded proved to be a respectable weapon in its own right, as she beheaded several approaching skeletons and sent their remains crumbling into dust with a simple twirl of its surprisingly sharp ends.

Kuroi followed up the impressive assault with one of her own, dodging the lanky and rubbery arms of several of the shadow-men with an acrobatic leap, their ropey appendages as broad as a small tree's width, one whack at the right speed against an unprepared opponent would mean an instantaneous demise.

From her hop she landed upon the head of a larger shadow-man, choking her thighs around its neck and reddening when it almost appeared as if the gangly bugger was so immodestly turning red with blush himself.

"W-Weirdo!" Kuroi screamed at the demonic display of perverted antics, twisting her torso as to snap the neck of the jelly-beast and end its life, melting it into a pond of blackened goo on the earth. "I mean…I'm looking for love too, but not with a demon!" She regretted to inform the lovelorn creature, despite the fact that it was deceased.

Its brethren seemed to follow the suit of affection, each of their featureless faces cloaked in a lusty blush at the alluring assassin. They converged upon her with open hands, prepared to demonstrate the extent of their adoration by any means possible. Kuroi recoiled in antipathy as the horde of love-struck shadow-men approached her.

"Irony! Cold-blooded irony!" Kuroi squealed indignantly, slashing at a plebe's level of skill in her cowardice, managing to sever arms, heads, and as many as she could, puncture featureless groins in an effort to separate whatever testosterone the demons seemed to be ingrained with.

And while Misao and Kuroi effortlessly worked through the horde, Tsukasa as always found herself at the crux of the hectic and frenzied combat without a clue, equidistant between her two allies, fighting for their lives against a horde of demons while she used subterfuge to best what few foes came her way.

Tsukasa didn't even bother using her sword, for she knew her own artistry of the blade was akin to a blind painter, or an armless sculptor. She instead relied upon her voluminous timidity, a trait that brought about almost ostentatious leaps and rolls of fright, which more often than not caused an enemy to strike its own ally in confusion.

Tsukasa employed the defensive stratagem, cowering downward into a messy ball as two of the squid-headed demons approached, both jingling their bells of blasting energy and missing the crumpled target entirely, instead hitting one another and obliterating the entirety of their upper torsos, the gore from which splattered into the eyes of several nearby whirling shadow-men. The chain reaction continued as they spun like tops, now blinded with messy innards, tearing skeletons and other shadows around them to bits and before long, one another.

In the aftermath, Tsukasa peaked from her rampart of fingers over her enclosed eyes, by some miracle having actually succeeded in her not-at-all chancy plan. The corpses and detached bits of unnamed things covered the area in carnage, and in while contempt of her dislike of battle, Tsukasa was strangely proud of the indecorous achievement.

In her chirping of slightly undeserved satisfaction, the younger twin didn't manage to notice a creeping shadow-man, still alive from the indirect assault, dragging its disfigured blob of a body in her direction.

Forming its extensible arm roughly into the shape of a jagged blade, the shadow-man chopped downward upon the unsuspecting human, incising a shallow but capacious carve down the entirety of Tsukasa's back, badgering about a cry that would wake the dead themselves were they not already skulking about.

The initial concussion made her hysterical; she could feel the streaks of blood slither down her back uncomfortably, bellowing speechlessly to the allies for any assistance they could manage.

Misao as always, was the first to notice the most hopeless of their group's attention seeking sobs, ridding herself of the final intrusive skeleton by lobbing it in two with a horizontal swipe before she dropped all attention any other pursuers gave to her in favor of doing anything she could preserve the pigeon-hearted Tsukasa's life.

"Little Hiiragi!" Misao yelled distressingly, brutally lobotomizing the demon who dared to lay its flagitious hands upon her ally. With its demise, she flocked to the injured Tsukasa's aid, lifting the girl's chin with her palm to ensure life still distilled purely within her. Tsukasa was sniveling, blanched with angst, and shaking from the startling pain, but was otherwise more frightened than severely injured.

Misao welcomed the inconsolable crush of a hug, which she knew the poor girl did only out of distress, knowing the efficacious Kuroi could hold her own against the remainder of the horde whilst she herself tended to the wounded.

"Hush now little lamb, it's alright." Misao assured irrefutably, stroking the girl's head to her slowly dampening shoulder, awash with mitigation at the girl's asylum, derelict of the battle at hand.

* * *

"A billion mirror fragments…small…light…taken…angel's…singing…voices …zeno…gias…" A discarnate utterance hissed, hovering within the vast, empty void. "Reference…not obscure…enough…wish I could…think of…another…" The oration proponed to itself smugly before it came to enjoy the occupying feeling of a manifesting physical form.

Yet it was dark, too dark to see, where was the sun in this world? There was none, only darkness, all encompassing; she prayed that somewhere in this span of nothingness laid the light she sought.

As if on cue, a thousand shards of light blinked in the gloom of the darkness, lighting the way for the expressive tongue, gradually illuminating the makeup of a young girl with cerulean hair, protracted and wagging behind her like the tail of a beast.

An inducing draw of fresh air that spilled from the light brought with it clarity, her mind was still muddled, but the vague monologues dribbling from a still-stretching mouth seemed to have ended thankfully. It was just a shame she had no eyes with which to see the enlightened path before her, how she wished she could see, tripping over her slightly longer left foot with every miniature pace was becoming vexatious.

The hope she professed inwardly became a welcome subsistence in reality, a welcome pair of eyeballs opened horizontally like a butterfly's wings upon her face, it tickled for a brief pass. Her first ideation was to pursue the summery, tender rays of light, they persuaded her with their valuing demeanor, putting aside all of its responsibilities just to provide her with lucidity.

She permitted her mind to make a contract with the light, by making contact with her body. She blanketed herself within the blinding luster, deaf to the suffering of the world, satisfied with the peaceful union of her wavelengths alone.

What was this feeling of serenity, this complete centralization of modest accord between she, and herself? It was both congenial and alienating; she wanted to be one with it as well as an individual. Yet how could that be? How does one desire the warmth of hearth and home yet wish to bask in the cold, disconsolate world in unison?

These feelings of uncertainty, she wished only to break away from them. The light had lied to her, it swore harmony and offered discord, it tempted her with its lulling pull only to push her astray. This cruelness she would not stand for, she envisioned a world without the light, inundated with shade alone, where falsehoods could not be spoken, where truth bestowed the hospitality she desired.

However she knew she could not discard the light entirely, regardless of its lies it was her only way to traverse the dark, there would need to be equality between them.

With the heartwarming rumination came another conception of her subconscious, the secluded terrene she had hungered for, a land plentiful with dark but not bereft of light. It came with the predominant effulgence of the full moon that defined an illustration of the sea, though not one comprised of water.

The boundless swell in question was composed of a verdant, flowing field of tall grass that stretched onward into eternity, counteracted by a single, lilac-laden tree. Under the shade of the moon, buried deeper within an underlying layer of the tree's own shade, sat a girl that resembled one the nameless blue-haired presence had come to know all too well in her time spent awake, but here the girl seemed far different.

The azure-haired entity trekked across the grassy field, far lengthier than she had anticipated, indulging in the carefree breeze that swept throughout it thanks to the lack of proper obstacles aside from the great tree. Had she looked to the sky above she would have been mystified by the complete lack of stars, perhaps thanks to the moon's overbearing emission of pale blush.

Within moments she came upon the girl sitting under the tree, the one who made her feel so wistful and, due to her discrepant aura, ill at ease.

"Hello, you remind me of someone." The blue-haired sentience greeted, waiting for a long pause before the huddled girl looked up to her, virtually emotionlessly.

"That would make sense, Konata." The somber, toneless look-alike pointed out.

At the name Konata a consciousness was suddenly conceived within the blue-haired entity, she no longer was the same faceless, tactless, being within this abstract world. She was Konata Izumi, the Azure Knight, the one who escaped the ire of destiny's threads, and she had come to free her friend Kagami from the frenetic influence of the Dregling disease by traveling into her very dreams.

"I…agh…" Konata scrambled to speak coherently as a flood of memory and emotion applied a thick coat to her brain, rendering her whole once more. "Kagami…?" She asked under a sibilating buzz, holding her head in discomfiture as her disorientation left her.

"I am, but not the one you seek." She clarified in a way that was open to interpretation; Konata certainly was racing to make sense of the comment. Whomever this not-Kagami was, it seemed the girl before her was a piece of the 'wait and see' whole that Hiyori had spoken to her of, a thing that was easier to see than outright believe.

"Gonna be one of _those _types of adventures, huh? Allegories give me gas." Konata huffed disapprovingly, having read at full length of such pretentious enterprises back home. Noticeably, said tales were light on the subjects of sexual deviance, violence, depravity and the regular genre element of an insurmountable paradox, so often lazily written into defeat with the assistance of an almighty dues ex machina. So too would it be for her adventures in the mind of her friend it seemed, and to this end she was understandably unsatisfied. "So! Here I am, in a dream. Wild, so how do I save Kagami?" Strangely unabashed she questioned the illusion of her friend, surprisingly at home in such a surreal plane of existence, perhaps strange individuals were simply more at peace with such aberrations.

Contradictions aside, no rejoinder was offered from the phantasm of her friend. It had apparently fulfilled its duties and speechlessly began preparations for the pursuing of the true Kagami. She did so by humming a surprisingly memorable beat to her audience, the lone tree, heralding a hidden entrance within the bark.

As the tree's bark unfurled, revealing a sweeping gloss of violet glow within the hole, Konata couldn't help but feel homesick. Something about the melody the not-Kagami hummed brought about a remorseful grief intermingled with humiliation, imaginably because she was unaware that any facet of the old childish hymn existed within Kagami's memory.

"That's…Motteke!" Konata recalled gaily, struggling for a moment to recall the title of the ballad. "We used to sing that when we were little kids! I didn't…I didn't even know you remembered that." Bashfully she blundered, assuming that she alone was the sole bearer of the memory, one she had presupposed her friends had forgotten long ago.

The illusion of Kagami exhibited indifference, but the Azure Knight could spot the carefully concealed tweaked nerve. "You would be surprised of the things Kagami remembers." A commiserative, yet stiff and soulless response, unorthodox for one such as Kagami. It was this trait that made Konata ruminate what aspect of the usually greatly emotional Kagami's identity this consisted of, for it certainly didn't act like the fiery girl she had come to know and love.

Amongst her hazy musings Konata scarcely noticed she was being left behind, and collected her competency swiftly to chase after the specter into the lavender mist pouring from the hole of a passageway in the great tree.

Catching up falteringly, Konata nary had the strength to return a second glance to the absurdity around her, an endless abyss of seizure-inducing flashes of various shades of purple that was engulfed like a river ever downward into a noticeable whirlpool of gossamer energy. The two stood upon a descending staircase composed of twinkling flower petals abandoned by unseen foliage. This makeshift pathway noticeably led in a single, linear direction, forging a path throughout the air and dipping into the chasm of colors below, where a black hole made its home.

Disinclined at first concerning the arduous declension, Konata reassured herself that the images she was seeing were entirely fabricated, nothing more than a dream, surely she was in no real danger.

It was this disregard for rules set in places concerning physics in dreams that nearly sent the poor girl tumbling to her doom, if not for the quickly-acting grasp of the phantom Kagami, who squeezed a tuft of the ignorant one's collar and pulled her forward during her awkward stumble backward that almost sent her falling into the rainbow abyss.

"I believe this is normally where Kagami would call you an idiot, however considering I do not contain that particular aspect of her personality, I will simply warn you against taking unnecessary risks simply because this is a dream." The revenant warned apathetically, with little care to be found within those empty eyes.

"Y-Yeah…" Konata stammered, holding in a deep breath as she dizzily admired the sheer depth of the drop surrounding her on all sides. It was at this time she wished that dream stairways into the endless beyond contained handrails, it would make her job, whatever exactly it was, far easier.

And just like that, as she wished it, so it was. A lavishly crafted and tempered steel hand-rail plated in the finest silver and gold abruptly jutted forth from the walkway of petals, securing their safety down the long walk undoubtedly. The stairway was the ideal embodiment of greed; precious jewels crafted it, tarps of the finest silk and embroideries of unknown family crests. The fortune amassed to construct such architecture would require wealth of a king, nothing less.

"Okay, that is like the fourth or fifth time that's happened. Does that mean like, if I imagine myself naked and covered in chocolate it'll totally happen?" Konata questioned to the specter, who she deemed all-knowing of the nature of dreams purely by association of existing within one.

"See for yourself." The ghost pressed; resigned to the fact the invader from the corporeal realm of existence would chance it anyway.

Looking downward, instead of being rightfully ashamed, Konata busted outward with a raving laugh, smearing a glob of chocolate from her naked waist and holding it to her face, prying her fingers apart and snickering as the liquid confectionery webbed between her fingers.

"This is totally the coolest thing I've ever seen. What's the deal with my thoughts coming to life anyhow?" She asked the dream Kagami distractedly, licking her fingers clean of the sweet substance as she did so.

"You are in a place of introspection, everything you see, including myself, are creations of Kagami's psyche. Everything you create with your own mind, is a product of your own." Phantom Kagami explained to the walker of dreams, still pleasantly sucking wind-dried chocolate from her fingertips.

At the thought of such elucidations, Konata couldn't help but wonder how she should interpret them. A secluded breadth of darkness and light, a moon-lit field of flowers adorned by a single lonesome tree, ornate constructions of avarice incarnate.

Not to mention this phantom created from Kagami's own mind, emotionless and logical, guarding the way to an unswerving path to oblivion itself bathed in amaranthine radiance that led directly into a black hole; this entire dream land was the very epitome of questions that desperately needed answers.

"I hate foreshadowing." Konata grumbled, knowing full well these designs of her and Kagami's imaginations surely had some deeper meaning, one she was neither savvy of nor eager to find out. "But I do love chocolate, and suddenly the stairway of epileptic flashing bulbs fashioned itself into a staircase crafted by the chocolate gods themselves!" She commanded the thought to exist, and to her pleasure a staircase made entirely of caramel filled, chocolate-chip laden, strawberry imbued craftsmanship appeared underneath the journeyer's feet.

"Kagami is dying." The apparition of Kagami pointed out candidly as she observed in confusion, a scene of a girl rolling around like a hound in grass, except in chocolate. Absent of worry she lay, stuffing her face full of handfuls of apocryphal bonbons and pudding that she likely couldn't even taste, truly an example of mind over matter in a quite literal sense.

"Oh crap, that's right!" Konata yelped, recalling her important task. "Quick, lead me to whatever the heck will help me save Kagami! Take the form of a flying unicorn and lead me there post haste!" She forced upon the specter, beholding in amusement as the girl's illusory body formed into that of a mighty mare with a human head, belonging to that of her friend.

A pair of dashing wings sprung from the horse-Kagami's back, and a horn sprouted out from within her purple mane. The look of stoicism was never lost upon her during the uncanny transformation, complete with a collage of fireworks erupting in swirls and coils from every sparkly inch of the chimera, more workings of Konata's eccentric mind.

"Were I capable of emotion I believe this would be the correct time to express humiliation." The Kagami-ghost-unicorn surmised based off of her knowledge of human thought.

"We've no time for that!" Konata commanded to the she-beast, struggling to mount the high-reaching back of the creature until she realized shamefully she was at least a person's-length too short to even attempt the climb, sliding from the rotund flank of the horse and plopping disgracefully onto her bottom.

An obstacle for an Izumi was just an excuse to attain greater glory for overcoming said obtrusion, in this rather inane case, ascending an indomitable bunny hop up a meter's length. But ever sharp and of perpetual wit, Konata knew just what to do in such a situation.

A sword fashioned from her imagination two sizes too big, strength beefed within her arms that was not her own, and the skillful artistry of an engineer of esteemed caliber. These tools and traits were made manifest by the dream world and subsequently used for her desires, in this case to carve a three-stair step-latter purely from the chocolate at her feet.

She did this in a flash thanks to her newfound creative ingenuity, and victoriously she slammed her creation upon the sweetened dust and climbed its mighty marshmallow steps to situate herself astride on the unicorn-Kagami's expansive backside.

"A thought occurs; I could have just willed myself upon your back with my mind-y dream-y powers, huh?" The bluenette concluded without shame, the achievement still resonated warmth within her despite the near-sightedness. "Such is the ways of those of higher-minds! Now, hyah Tsunsteed!" An authorization as good as any, the phantom took heed of the declaration and flew from her ground-bedded position with a rocketing jump, nearly yanking the rider clean off the bucking back had she not grasped the thickness of the beast's neck with all her might.

"To save Kagami we must travel to the lair of Kagami's conscience, she can show us the way to the instincts. There, we can dive into the core of Kagami's emotions and find her true self, where you can convince her to accept the Storm King's soul." The illusion explained, lining up her angling as she adjusted to the alien movements of her quadruped form, zeroing in on the heart of the forever tunneling black hole at the bottom of the winding, ethereal staircase of chocolate.

"Sounds complicated! How do you know all this?" Konata questioned, curious as to how the phantom could possibly know of her mission to help Kagami within the void of her dreams.

"I know all you know, for we share one dream, hence one mind." She made clear at last; in an answer so ambiguous in sense the bluenette's knowledge of the situation would've remained the same had she not asked at all.

"One mind…?" Konata stuck on the chosen phrase, coming to the conclusion that perhaps she didn't wish for Kagami to know _all_ the inner workings of her mind, life would be a lot less fun if her friend saw every ill-intentioned movement she made in the dark. "Also horses don't talk!" She reminded to her steed, gleeful when she noticed the horse's mouth clamped forcefully, made so by the power of her mind.

"I mean neigh!" Horse-Kagami corrected logically to appease the charge of the facts established by Konata's psyche, no longer able clarify the essence of their mutually communal dream where secrets could be laid bare.

Flying forth into depths of the darkened eye of the twirling black hole, naked as the day she was born, covered in head to toe in syrupy chocolate, and riding a quasi unicorn-pegasus hybrid sporting her friend's head, Konata suffered the most instinctive sinking feeling of ill premonition despite the hilarious, and utterly insane circumstances.

It stuck longer than she would've liked, and it took more than a few hard swallows to erase the tension in her belly, but it passed like a dream from memory all the same. The worst part about these hunches of hers, they were usually right.

* * *

Tapping into her hidden powers as an undead was strictly forbidden by her sect, the order of the thorny rose. The Dark Sign was an evil, foul thing that branded all the undead in the land, marking them as accursed, damned beings hated by the majority of the living world.

The Dark Sign held within its influence the power to remain undying. Bearers of the cursed mark were doomed to die, be reborn and die again, be reborn and die yet again endlessly cycling until the end of their days, in which their minds would be wholly consumed by madness and they would wander the lands as the innumerable shambling husks called Hollows.

The more the undead relied upon their power of rebirth, the closer they would get to the inescapable end they would all eventually meet, insanity followed shortly by being cut down by some random adventurer in a forgotten cave in a forest nobody had ever heard of, or something equally as pathetic.

It was for this reason Minami loathed the use of her powers despite their usefulness, and in most cases, flat out assurance of her victory. But in fine tuning them with the fibers of her body and spirit, her performance could be tripled in every area and attribute.

Bunny hops would change to bounding leaps, a tooth-cracking punch would evolve into a head-removing jab, and the swing of a weapon would tear the earth asunder with explosions of radical energy the more she relied upon the Dark Sign's power.

Were any of her order to discover she had tapped into such a depraved power, even as a tool for the driving of genial causes, she would be excommunicated or worse, executed permanently, exorcised of her undead blood and put to death as a normal human being. To this end, there are certain types of magic that even the undead cannot escape, whose hegemony even the most powerful of the undying cannot escape, such as the soul arts. The very same mythical devilry that King Allant used to destroy Boletaria with the ever encroaching colorless fog.

So while she could now easily block each and every thrust of Patricia's possessed, magically attuned fists, or even the lofty swing of the Dragon God's blade hurled her way, she knew she did so at a great cost. She had tapped into her powers regrettably, but the sorceress Miyuki and the priestess Carrot would die if she did not, not to mention her own life was very much at risk. She used this power to block an incoming slash of Patricia's Dragon God sword, that collided with a thud against her maul, the dragons that now controlled Patricia's body couldn't help but cackle evilly.

"Tis more like it, mortal! We prayed that thou wouldst tap into thine true potential! How delightful it be to us to see mortals succumb to the age old quandary of folly!" Conceitedly the dragons proclaimed, pervaded with contempt.

Minami remained mute, derision was a child's game, and it only furthered her claim on the true demeanor of the gods as Carrot had suggested. Combat was no game, it was a serious matter, it was disgraceful to any currently locked within its clutches and the many countless who had died by its asperity. Her taciturn ways also remained as such usually because she wasn't the most proficient at thinking up comebacks.

It also bolstered her concentration, wherein details would go unnoticed by an exasperated mind; they would be easily exploited by her unadulterated mind. The maintained focus showed patterns of foot movement engrained in the dirt, exposing agitated and cowardly missteps and trip ups easily. Lingering perspiration could be seen set upon an opponent's brow, revealing their exacerbating endurance. And perhaps most useful, the ability to regard the tightening of a weapon's handle or girth to levy strike, slash, or thrusting capacity.

Being highly attuned with one's opponent was a warrior's greatest asset, studying their movements and reacting to them instead of allowing them the courtesy of countering your own.

And even with supernatural stamina, the dragon's true power originated not by their own strength, but the natural human obstinacy of their host, Patricia. A human determination and willingness to submit and serve, this was what allowed them to hold themselves up. Without this alliance, the disembodied gods would have no hold over the human girl; it was entirely within Patricia's power to end their reign over her body whenever she pleased.

The application of laconism had done her a service; it produced within Minami's mind a most remarkable idea. Patricia's lust for reprisal was an adolescent one, a gloom that placated the pain she was forced to endure throughout her many years of loneliness following Yoshimizu's destruction. To this end, even as a steadily maturing young woman, her brain still registered the event by a child's perception and understanding, for this was all she possessed at the time of the calamity.

The mind of the divine pitted against the structurally weak mind of a girl that never quite grew up, with this collision of temperament, how could the product of their opposition be anything but discord if they were forced to confront one another?

"Patricia-San." Minami called out to the lost child within the puppet before her, sparking with interest when she saw the faintest glimmer of recognition within her placid, aqua eyes. It took all the courage she could muster to even let the following words slip from her; she loathed herself even as she thought them. "Your family, your friends, everyone you ever loved is dead. They are gone forever. Killed by me, their blood forever stains my hands." Composedly she instigated, despite the harrowing sting the of the words.

The apperception of Patricia was no longer visible; the dragons simply cocked the girl's blonde brow in a puzzling smirk. "She cannot hear you where she is, demon. 'Tis commendable effort attempting to reach the human child, however!" They praised cynically, following the verbal blow with a physical one, a flailing slash of the Dragon God's sword that carved a hefty crack within the ground following a swift miss of their target.

"They begged for me to stop as I cut them down." Minami continued, unfaltering in her subliminal advance. "Women, children, pets and elderly…burned to ash along with their caving straw homes. Men who defended the village against my assault, cut into ribbons by my blade, their sacrifices entirely meaningless." Powerfully she goaded, ensuring her facial features remained stoic, despite the immeasurable pain they caused her, she could not appear weak before her opponent lest she fail.

"And thou did well, undead!" The dragons admired, glorifying the massacre. "Unfortunately for thou, disremembered this poor, impoverished child did ye. And by her actions did our holy testament fall to the blade of a human! A mortal! Disgraceful." They redacted the commendation, twirling the Dragon God's sword like a baton and pushing the pinwheel spun blade against the grossness of the crusader's maul.

While not sharp, the Dragon God's sword was as hard as the most ancient of sculpted bedrock, and immense in size. The sheer power it put out was enough to leave scrapes and massive cracks within Minami's weapon, and had the momentum not subsided, it would have cut clean through several feet of tempered metals.

"Your parents died especially pitifully." Minami admitted, under the guise of an apathetic frown. "They could not even save their own child from a life of madness and death." While the cause was just, inwardly Minami simply could not handle the atrocity she created even by recollection, speaking of it demoralized her completely, showed to her what a monster she had become since her transfiguration into an undead demon. Yet she did now show this weakness, not to these gods, the immortal divine could never comprehend her sadness even if she conveyed it.

"For the better, say we!" The dragons roared, thrusting a stab of the rounded tip of their god's sword in Minami's direction, and shockingly, managed to hit the crusader. The humps on the edge of the sword cracked cleanly through Minami's thick armor, and glided with a grainy scrape across her hip that took with it an ample layer of flesh.

Minami crowed in pain, and her shuddering cries exacerbated her irritation, but her buckling knees did not give in. She recuperated quickly, and with haste flung her open hand to the throat of Patricia, locking her plated, brumal gauntlet around the wanderer's palpitating neck.

The initial friction forced the Dragon God's blade from Patty's hand, tumbling the weighty sword to the ground as her petite body was lifted into the air by the undead conscript. The dragons kicked and shoved with their thrashing human limbs, but the fearsome choke kept them locked in place without any hope of abdication.

"And Miyuki-Chan, ever the saint… M'lady and I, we despoiled her fragile mind to do our bidding, she killed countless innocents without ever even realizing it." Fervidly, and without a hint of intensity, she finished her plea to the girl entombed within a god's unfathomable shackles, praying her appeal had ameliorated Patricia's fading individualism.

Carrot, with what trifling vigor remained in her dispirited and shattered body, twitched with alarm at the notion of the magician sprawled underneath her unconscious, was in fact a mass murderer. She didn't act upon her fear however, she merely watched, stunned into silence, as the dragon's laughter began cracking louder than the thunderous storm overhead.

"Yea, how we weep for you, undead!" Chaffing the god's did chuckle under a hiss, struggling to breathe past the choke's squeeze. "Thou gambit has failed, and this child shall serve as our vessel until we…until…we…how…?" Turbulence within the void of minds, the dragon's deep male voices faded for a brief instant, replaced by Patricia's ever shrill, high-toned voice. "This cannot be…we be dragons…timeless…for a mortal's concupiscence to exceed our own…? Pro…poster…" A last few trailing words, and the faint voices of the dragons were completely gone.

Disorder had sprouted within the competition for reigns of Patricia's mind, for the time being, the dragons had been lulled back into their hidden crease in the archer's brain, awaiting their next revival. Acknowledging she had bested the gods, Minami unhinged her brawny grip on the child's neck, letting Patty tumble to the ground in a storm of wheezing coughs and misty eyes.

"You…speak the truth…?" Patty asked under a cough, still attempting to recompose herself and find her lost breath.

"Aye…" Minami professed glumly, holding her bruising torso as she looked down upon a defeated, frightened child. "Understand, the words I spoke were not spoken out of ire, I meant only to provoke you. Not a day passes by that I do not feel my heart throb for the people of Yoshimizu…nay, all whose lives have ever been claimed by me." She reasoned, hoping not to bring about any unwanted rage from a still very bloodthirsty combatant.

"And Miyuki? She truly is innocent..?" Patricia asked hopefully, the remnant of a smile forming upon her face.

"Aye." The crusader again affirmed. "That child knew not what she did; it was forced upon her by M'lady and I…for the good of mankind. I make no claim of innocence however, hate me as much as you like, I deserve as such." Morosely Minami presented an offer of hatred, one she was more than willing to bare considering the circumstances.

Forgiveness is an anomalous thing to most; it brings with it a multitude of different feelings, heaps of contending thoughts that require careful consideration. Amnesty isn't reached without these careful deliberations by most, and the length of time required for afterthought can reach distant milestones, such as an entire lifetime. It's up to the victim and their familiarity with their own thoughts to decide when, if ever, they are prepared to forgive those that had wronged them.

Forgiving Minami and Yutaka for destroying her very way of life wasn't something that could be fully forgiven, if ever, even it was for the good of the world it still held a burning question. Why did it have to be her? Why couldn't it have been somebody else? Why her village, a dell so secluded and peaceful and detached from the unwieldy corruption and contamination of the rest of society? It seemed unfair that a people as just as they were made to suffer when so many were far more deserving of destruction.

Patricia didn't know the full story however, for all she knew, her people truly were a necessary sacrifice to ensure the safety of a far larger amount of people, more important people, kings and stewards and dukes, those that would help shape the world into a more harmonious land for all with their power.

Asking outright wasn't an option, words were just words, and they meant nothing to Patty if she couldn't see the byproduct of such words with her own eyes. Yutaka and Minami destroyed Yoshimizu; however they clearly were not evil, far from it. The reason behind the massacre likely lay in the only place it naturally could, ground zero of the catastrophe, her home.

"I do not forgive you, not yet." Patty declared, somewhat cautiously. "That's why there's something I have to see for myself, I imagine I'll be meeting you there someday if fate has anything to say about it." Vaguely she explained to the knight of Garland, who after a brief passing of confusion, seemed to realize. "Konata and the others will slay this demon! I know they will, try stop them if you dare! And you, priestess! Tell Yuki that when she wakes up, our star still shines as bright as ever! And that Patricia the Wanderer has returned to doing what she does best!" The wanderer directed to Carrot, so lost in confusion concerning the context of anything anyone spoke of at this point that she had all but given up attempting to understand.

With her declaration made, Patty lifted her Dragon God's sword back into her arms, her weapon once more, slinging the weapon dutifully over her shoulder. With her free hand suspiciously she buried her fingers within her slightly-ajar robe and skillfully removed a battalion of small, metallic balls, patterned between each finger. Spiritedly she pitched the orbs to the ground below her, cackling maniacally, or heroically from a certain stand point, as the spheres exploded into clouds of darkened smoke, ensuring her escape as the outline of the archer vanished from all sight.

"She's gone…" Carrot noted in wonderment, surveying the area for a moment before gargling sympathetically, spying the escaping wanderer but a few dozen feet from her original position of departure.

"They don't make smokescreens like they used to!" Patty whined, full-stride in an eluding sprint. "Kill ya someday, Minami! Or my name isn't Patricia the wa—" Her goals announced proudly, the pitch was cut short as the hopeless archer tripped over an unseen stone, scraping her chin with a browning bruise. She took it in stride as the amiable do, hopping up with a ferocious bounce and beginning a more honorable escape, were there a such thing as honor for being a coward. "The wanderer!" With promotion of her legendary title aptly made, Patricia the Wanderer finally sunk below the shadow of the many temple alleyways and out of sight, where her adventures would take her would surely be a mystery.

"That girl…" Ayano sighed wearily, reaching her limit of stress for the day steadfastly. "Mm?" She muttered noticing the knight of Garland, Minami, had already begun to relocate herself from the situation, despite her disfiguring injuries. "H-Hold on! You're hurt badly, as a cleric it is my oath to heal even those that would do me harm." She granted in reconciliation, wishing to rejuvenate not only the knight's body but the personal friction she seemed to have with the priestess' temporary traveling companions.

"You are kind, daughter of sin." Minami blessed, jittering as she cradled her wounds. "Yet I fear your alleviations with miracles would do no good…not to one such as I, an undead. Your talents would be far more suited for Takara-San." An advisory that Carrot took expeditiously, amicably baptizing Miyuki's body in a sage glow of healing magic, a spell that did its best to pacify the great pain of her broken arm.

Were she less weary or another not in need of aid, Minami would've gladly accepted the clerical stint despite the lasting effect it may have on her undead body, the severe pain would be worth the abolishing of her grievous injuries. The only grace she could offer those she was malign towards was her own misery, even if it settled nothing, it made the sore knight feel appeased for the interim.

With her foes defeated and unconcerned, the thought of ending them forthwith scuttled back and forth between morality and duty. She was indebted to her lady, the one thing in this world she truly cared for, and yet striking down the deplorably touched was not something that she, a soldier of virtue and compassion, could bring herself to do.

And so she turned her back upon the cleric and her patient, limping into the outset of the cliffs to begin the descent, for she knew she'd be meeting her master upon the beaches below the cliff side soon enough. The spiraling tower of light shining atop the Storm King proved Yutaka's desperation, she was on the losing side of a battle she never had a chance to win, and while she feared for the sixth saint's life it was not within the confines of her destiny to assist in this matter. She would simply go to the shore and wait, sorrowfully, for her beloved to return to her as she had so many times before.

* * *

Ripping her serrated knife from the cleanly split skull of a totally demolished skeleton, Nanako Kuroi gritted her jaw as the grizzly bite of adrenaline slipped from her resonating muscles, slowing her rabid heartbeat as she became aware that the last demonic entity she had struck down, was indeed the last.

The patch of forest hide they found themselves within was now caked with blood and demon entrails, shattered splinters of teeth and bone fragments, and teensy bits of flesh so small they could only remain nameless. Nearly from head to toe Kuroi was lathered in a showering of their ghoulish blood and slime, their slashed, bisected, beheaded, and vertically furcated bodies surrounded her in a hilly mess of whole and severed pieces.

Tsukasa and Misao sat nearby, the latter still cradling the former, whose injury had turned out to be far more astringent than initially conceived. Along with the carving pattern down Tsukasa's beaten back, a simmering, red-hot burn had impinged upon her neck's space, down the entirety of her spine to the hem of her pants. It was grisly looking, like a massive rash, and no doubt its caviling sprawl consisted of a similar prickling irritation.

Yutaka loomed cumbrously; her intestinal siphon had nearly drained the whole of her vehemence against her foes. The Storm King demanded considerable vigor to allow the two to remain as one. It's own well of power was significantly deeper than Yutaka's own, and she found it nigh impossible to keep up with the onerous sapping, and if it kept up much longer, the Arch-Fiend would seek to suck her body dry of its quavering verve.

"B-Bath…need one so b-bad." Kuroi bawled, shivering uncomfortably at the gooey mess that draped her grotesquely. She wiped the most critical concern; the glob of crimson streaked across her face, but found the interruption to its natural canvass of horror only made the mess claw further athwart her features.

"Yu…taka…" Tsukasa appealed hoarsely, clearing her throat of the lumped croak before she continued. "Please, we don't need to do this…I…I don't understand! If the Old One dies…our world dies…but if the Old One survives…our world dies! Either way people suffer." Brokenly, ignorantly, she tried to make sense of it, grasping fruitlessly from their foe for an answer to all. "If we are to live a long, dreadful life…or a short, happy one…does the latter not sound better?" Reasonably she asked, but Yutaka's dissonance shown brilliantly, it suffused from her quivering lip.

"I am sorry…I am so sorry." Yutaka apologized profusely in an almost foreign way, the simmering emotion of anger was a nonresident of her soul, an unfamiliar and unexplored passerby in the widespread scheme of her mind, but it seemed to radiate within her voice all the same. "This alternative you speak of…it is one I would prefer. And yet, I did not misspeak before, the world cries out for the Old One to remain, it is our only option at this point. The children cry, they weep as to return to their mother's bosom…to feel her warmth yet again." Esoteric, avoiding the point, and regrettably vague, a fermenting mix of despair that a far more impatient Misao could no longer accept.

"That's so crap!" Misao lashed out, providing dissonance to the overwhelming despair Yutaka presented. "We'll find a way, we always do, right? Every time humanity is on the brink of killing ourselves, melting into giblets and goo from famine, or torn across time by ignorance and hatred, we've always found a way to fester like the cockroaches we are!" Inarticulately she disclaimed of Yutaka's forlorn answer.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Kuroi chimed in, a loutish creak in her upturned face. "Well, I would have said it far more gracefully…but indeed, mankind is as tenacious as a mother separated from her child, we won't rest until that faithful day we're in ecstasy imperishable, until our child is back again in our arms. We'll push past the enmity and prosper like we always do. Old One or not, mankind will find a way to ensure our world's survival, somehow." The assassin explained more tastefully, earning the ire of her compatriot.

"Thanks for one-upping me in front of the bad guy, sensei." Misao grumbled in embarrassment, leaning on fuming rage when she eyed her ally giving her the old 'no problem' wink.

"Mankind cannot…" Far more laboriously than before, Yutaka expired a sputtering breath, husky and distant. "They must not…I can not…Minami-Chan…I didn't expect to lose so much blood…" She called out to her missing companion in her delirium, wiping the sweat from her ever bleaching, pale face.

"Yutaka, I—" Tsukasa attempted to entreat, a pursuit thwarted by Misao's dry intolerance for negotiations.

"Ah ta ta, enough." Misao interrupted, intermittent of the chance for pacifism, the dirge tolled for the crusader's lives ended the moment they clung to their convictions. By her usual aloof habits, Misao retracted her cuddling clutch around the younger Hiiragi twin forcibly, tumultuously abandoning her duty as protector and crunching her way through the debris of the recent battle, thoughtlessly stomping on slain bodies with each callous tip and toe of her clanking boots.

Thoughtfully rubbing the invisible barrier surrounding Yutaka with her dirtied, blistered hands, Misao discerned the nature of the impenetrable shield's essence. She felt the souls of the dead resonate upon her fingertips, vigorously compacted into thin layers of soul art fortifications. Only a demon could pass through such a barrier considering their close attachment to the realm of souls, and their understanding of the entities ambiguous properties. To any normal human being, the barrier would simply act as a wall, or hurdle between them and their progress.

It so happened, luckily for her for once in her life, Misao was not a normal human being. She was not normal by any stretch of the imagination. Now and again it brought about a dark consideration, one she mindfully ignored, of her heritage. Doors of forgotten temples winded and whimpered at her very presence, revealing hidden passages, divine heirlooms hummed with magical fulminations at her touch, and the tools of the gods themselves were capable of being wielded in her decidedly non-mortal hands.

And perhaps the trait her inhuman form bore that disturbed her most, was her inability to die. The universe seemed to deem the drudge's life ending as fallacious, and therefore would not allow it to end until some great purpose had perhaps been fulfilled, or maybe the irony of the gods had just collapsed upon her shoulders and they poked and played with her life for amusement.

It was this truculent existence that forced her to obey, that tantalized her with the prospect of learning what she truly was if she continued to succumb to her master's will. And obey she would, any matter concerning any individual, any altercation with any demon or foul creature, and journeys to the deepest chasms of ancient temples, she'd make them with a crooked smile.

And this simply crafted, translucent barrier would be no match for her supernatural skills, and would not be the deciding obstacle to keep her away from discovering the secrets of her past. Be it human, demon, god, whatever power coursed through her hands, she'd use it to the fullest extent of her abilities to obtain the truth. The truth was all that mattered, and while it pained her to admit it, the destiny of the Arch-Fiends and King Allant seemed entirely inconsequential to her, she assisted Konata and her companions by the alluring draw of the truth being revealed alone.

And with this vigor, the sway of her desire for certainty, she plunged her charred knuckles into the bubbly sphere, shattering the force field away like glass and leaving Yutaka without shield, and thanks to the deaths of her underlings, a sword as well.

Kuroi's cheek tweaked with an uppity spasm, her disbelief was grand. "You…you kiddin' me, kid!? Could you have done that from the beginning!?" She griped, wiping the ghoulish grime from her suit in a fury, who knows how many baths it would take to remove the stench of death from her body thanks to Misao's inept foresight.

"Wasn't sure, now I am." The drudge sputtered, lax of birr in her voice. "I'm not human." Misao affirmed to herself out loud, closing the gap between her and the hounding demon Yutaka. Threateningly she tipped the urine-spear to the achromatic-cloaked demi-human's throat, in preparation of the end that could never come by her hand. "And neither is this one, as if we already didn't realize that. What reason would she have for defending the life of an Arch-Demon? The Sixth Saint, that ring any bells? The Monumental told us about her! And this order of the rose? Crusaders for peace? Pah! I may not be a scholar, but I'm not stupid, Umbasa has no disciples, this order of the rose she spoke of hasn't existed for millennia!" Deliberately she revealed, hoping to dissuade the demonic Yutaka from her courageous foothold.

Yet a sharp tongue may not have even been necessary. With her slaves dead, her barrier crushed, and her life wavering, Yutaka drooped wearily to the ground, clutching the engorged tube of bloody mess in her hands.

"Then she…?" Tsukasa queried, pausing her intrusion to noisily gripe about her injury.

"She's an Arch-Demon!" Misao hollered under a crack, visibly distressed herself by her bold statement. "I know because…I just…I can feel it. Look, you guys I'm not…what most would consider normal. I can feel the power in her, spouting outward, touching everything else. It's...terrible, and it's the same feeling I get from the Storm King. She's just here to protect one of her own." The revelation of her inhuman nature didn't bode well for her social standing in the group, but she knew it would've had to come out sometime. "I'm not an Arch-Demon, but…whatever Yutaka is, whatever demons are, I…I'm beginning to think I'm one of them. They feel just like me…and I can use that to discern weaknesses, like this kid's barrier. Only demons can pass through it, and only demons can disable it." A certain type of sadness laced Misao's annotation, an anguish neither of her human companions could hope to comprehend.

"Yet there is something…m-more…" Yutaka supplemented, heaving with a gasp. "A soft, fragile thing beneath the otherwordly convergence that threatens to swallow your heart whole…it is distinctly human." Yutaka proffered, blinded to the true amorphous shape of Misao's being. The child reeked of demonic essence this was true, suffusing around her like raw clout, yet even past the veil of decidedly unholy influence laying dormant in the deepest trenches of the slave's being was an unseen, unconsciously acting authority that was anything but demon. Yutaka could sense it, but only just slightly, it vexed her as much as it did the child herself. Misao was no demon, but she certainly wasn't human either.

"What can say I?" Misao ushered nervously, more afraid of the truth of her lifeblood than she let on. "I'm a deep person." A quip born of abhorrence, Misao made known her casual attitude towards the bleak unknown. "Now back to business, what I mean to say…is that Tsukasa, we cannot show mercy. You said it yourself, a long and harsh life, or a brief and wondrous one. What this child and her drudge support is most definitely the former! Even if what they desire could potentially save this planet… we have a chance to stop the Old One for good, she cannot succeed." Her tribulation brushed aside along with any answers held by the priestess Yutaka, Misao was stunned to see that in her brief turn away from her opponent the demon had begun to sink like a stone into the fleshy earth itself.

Kuroi was quick to act, but not enough, the assassin's dagger came crashing upon a sinkhole of nothingness. The Monumental's pawns watched demoralized in bewilderment as Yutaka sank into the depths of the crevice, a cave of orifices and arteries, the belly of the Storm King.

Before the decision to give chase could be made, the hole suctioned itself inward, sealing the passage. Exchanging brief looks of frustration and worry, the three soon found the ground beneath them to be raging violently like the storm around them, a convulsion brought about quite likely, by the recent invader of its internals.

* * *

"Be easy, my brother." Yutaka soothed, squished between the wet, slimy press of a mass of flesh and organs, her entire body drenched in the gooey, filmy entrails waste and byproducts. Where she was, she wasn't sure, it appeared to be the tight cavity between the goliath cage of ribs and the demon's pulsating, sphere-like heart. The cadenced drumming of the organ could be heard, as well as the sailing squish and squirt of bloods transportation to various devices.

The reverberations of the behemoth's fleshy caverns grew more and more restless; the recent havoc taking its toll had frightened the creature far beyond its capacity to handle such things. Despite its demonic powers, it was not born to be a predator, biologically it was a peaceful herbivore of the skies, and its mentality towards danger was instinctually cowardly.

"Easy…rest easy." Yutaka again urged, following the fleshy coil attached to her bellybutton to its source, the massive, thumping heart suspended above her by a web of squishy, pumping tendrils. "I may have come too late. The enemy's numbers are great, and they have mages, supernatural beings, old familiar faces, and even the daughter of Kanata Izumi amongst their rank. We wholly underestimated the Monumentals, I fear…" Dismally she lamented, working as she spoke, severing herself with her knife from the bond of blood, the entrails tube, the key that allowed her to tap into the bounteous well of the Storm King's demonic power.

Without the sedating effect of Yutaka's gentle psyche imprinting itself within the Storm King's own simple, rabidly animalistic one, the monster understandably bucked in response to the severance. The drug that had placated its frightened mind had abandoned it, and the chemical imbalance returned, leaking throughout the creatures systems as they each surrendered to its swell, replacing the cool behavior with a far more aggressive, primal one.

Yutaka knew this was her only hope at this point, a last ditch attempt to destroy the Monumental's servants. The Storm King's rage would not only destroy the plateau, but the shadowed temples, her enemies, and quite likely the beast and its spawn along with it. This gamble was what she placed her hopes within, unlikely though they may be, for a world that cried out for the Old One to remain.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the week-long wait. Here's another chapter. Sorry it's so long.


	25. Trust

**Lucky Souls**

* * *

**Chapter 25: Trust**

Bursting through a stain-glass whirlpool of sickeningly bright, neon colors, Konata and her Tsunsteed penetrated the barrier of the black hole and shot straight into a new realm of unconsciousness, a deeper layer of thought where all the pretentious, nonsensical, questionable or non, morals of the human mind were laid bare for all mind-invaders to gawk at accordingly.

Dotingly the Tsunsteed perched herself on the lone location in the erratic, rainbow, flashing void. It was a single box of a room, but if the apparition of Kagami had led her here, Konata was sure this was where they were meant to be, the next step in locating Kagami's true consciousness.

The purported space they found themselves in conveyed itself as a faultless, untouched cubical room. The floors, walls, and ceiling were tiled perfectly with symmetry of the highest caliber, not a misshapen filling or stain of mixture and craft to be seen. No human error to be found in its construction, no stains or blotches of filth at all within the unparalleled cleanliness.

It sparkled proudly, its sheen glowed, but there was an uneasiness brought about by the perfection. It seemed synthetic, lifeless, and utterly non-human. No human could live here, at least, not well, and such a premonition seemed to hold true, as the sole occupant of the flawless chamber was yet another carbon copy of Kagami Hiiragi.

This Kagami sat in the center of the room, huddled into a fetal position, rocking herself back and forth at an attempt to find harmony, but none could be found for her in this dead chamber. Her eyes were glued open in a frenzied expression, bloodshot and fatigued, joined by a perfectly curvaceous set of deepening slivers of lethargy. Her hair was disheveled, her clothing unkempt and filthy, and her nails looked as if they hadn't been trimmed her entire life, gnarled like the roots of a tree. While the room was spotless, a paragon of asepsis, the sole occupant was a polar opposite of this perfection.

"Hey!" The manic Kagami screamed as she noticed the intruders entering her personal space. "Did you even think about wiping your feet!? Who knows what filth you'll drag in here! I just cleaned! Remove your filth! Do it! Do it now!" She instructed furiously, sprinting upwards from her bunched squat and charging to the thin layer of imaginary dirt and pools of gooey chocolate shed from the intruders' feet, leaving an unsightly trail of footprints and hoof prints behind them.

Immediately the dedicated custodian got to work, scrubbing the floor of its muck in a frenzy, her eyes swelling up with tears of frustration as she did so. Her tantrum of girlish sobs and squeaks almost made Konata feel sorry for the apparition. She wasn't real, but the pain she seemed to be burdened with certainly seemed as much.

"Is this the real Kagami?" Konata inquired glumly to her equestrian guide, whom whipped her light purple mane in a negative confirmation.

"No, this is Kagami's conscience." She explained without sympathy to the alien of Kagami's mind. "Here she sits day by day, ridding our mind of any and all undesirable abnormalities. In an effort to maintain perfection she's been driven quite mad." An understatement to be sure, insane was what tax collectors were, and the poor soul Konata's eyes fell upon was a broken, destitute hermit even within the safety of her own mind.

Finishing her accustomed, superfluous ritual, the ragged conscience of Kagami gathered the clarity to give a skewing glance to the intruders. "And _you_, what are you doing here anyway!? Like I don't have enough things to worry about, now I've got Konata skipping around in my head, touching things! Touching things with her dirty little no-good trouble making hands!" The illusion demanded to know fiercely, and while the presented anger certainly had a similar feel synonymous with a certain tsundere, this one definitely wasn't her.

"My hands are _not _dirty!" Konata insisted, innocently inhaling a blob of melted sweetness from her fingers. "Anyway, I'd love to stay and pry each and every little inhibition and timid insecurity from the depths of my little Kagamin's grey matter, but for once I really do have better things to do than pester you! Now hows-a-bout you lead us to the instinct, eh?" Superciliously Konata inquired, hoping to reach the subsequent layer of Kagami's subconscious just as easy, more or less, as the first two.

"No." Resolutely Kagami's conscience replied, turning her back on the twosome to resume her obsessive, compulsive duties of managing a pure, unveiled psyche.

"Great!" Konata assumed half-lidded, already moseying her way intuitively in the right direction. "Now we just need to-_hey wait what did you just say!?" _ Redacting her praise into a sweeping furor, she nearly tripped over the twisting curl of her own hair she jutted about so quickly.

Kagami's conscience deprived the azure knight of a response, ignoring her as she silently resumed scrubbing the infringing, and growing by the second, chocolate puddles toe-painted across the white tiled floors.

"Oh no. We're dooooomed." Konata's Tsunsteed provided an emotionless display that in large was undemonstrative of the true horror the situation bestowed upon them. It somehow made Konata twice as frustrated as before.

On a mission Konata marched over to the disregarding janitor, planting a desperate palm on her shoulder to wake her from her frenzied lifework. "Hey now! This affects you to, ya know! Kagamin's dying outside these walls, and if she does so do you! How then will you be able to clean your precious floors?" Konata hoped that by reaffirming the seriousness of the situation, perhaps even an imaginary figment of another's mind could understand all it had to lose.

"Oh, I know we're dying." The conscience bleakly confessed, wringing her soapy cloth free of browning chocolate stains with the sentiment. "And that pleases me, I can't stand this anymore. Kagami...we…I, she never lets up her guard. She never stops trying to blame herself for everything that befalls…well, all of you. Her conscience is heavily weighed down; by this and that…mostly anguish only she could understand. And I'll be glad to be free of this place at last when she slips away. Free of this maddening duty." Her words exhumed relief, despite their debilitated outlook. This was not fluctuating in Konata's favor, her time was scarce, and what little allotment she was inferred by foreordination, she couldn't be bothered wasting it on arguing with an illusion.

"Gaaah! Who needs you!?" Konata irately assured to herself. "We can make it to the instinct on our own, right, Tsunsteed!?" Although a second opinion never hurt anyone, she figured.

"We do need her; she's the only one who knows the way." The phantasm reiterated the plan just as it had before.

"Yeah, but…ugh…" Quizzically the bluenette itched her head in crimped chagrin, searching for a loophole. "Can't I just use my mind like I did last time? Will us there?" She exhibited the secondary, inferior plan to her guide, but even despite the poker face the mare didn't seem to find it favorable.

"Unfortunately not." The horse retorted in between a whinny. "The rules of a mind are adjudicated by the owner of said mind, in this case…the reason we are unable to proceed is because Kagami has willed it that only her surface thoughts are visible to others. It is possible the person she displays to you in the real world is not the same person she hides deep within." A plentiful, and begrudgingly solid explanation, but it didn't really provide an answer to the all encompassing issue.

"Well…" Konata stuttered, scrunching her face in contemplation. "Everybody does that, right? People put up walls; don't show their true selves to all but a few. How is this any different?" She wondered the question aloud more than she imposed it, now lost in the slippery truth of Kagami's intensely structured mind.

The guide clopped a hoof to the ground involuntarily, arcing her head towards the more frenetic representation of their collective thoughts, the manic conscience. "I fear Kagami is an extreme example of this conventional human trend." Providing the answer Konata feared, it brought with it a new host of unanswered riddles. Kagami was a worry-wort; she was obsessive, compulsive, premeditative, apprehensive, and acted as though she were wildly harrowed by all around her. It never really occurred to Konata before this moment that perhaps these temperaments exposed a much deeper issue, granted it was a very clandestine one.

Konata's pity for the burdened child was great, but no viable commiseration could be given, and even were there such a comfort it would not be hers to give. To understand another, truly, absolutely, and without barrier and restraint was not something easily attained by even the closest of friends. While Kagami was her dearest friend, most trusted confidant in all things, and her most prodigious treasure, still to this day she learned new things about the deferential, studious, oft cantankerous woman.

It was a painful admission, but her understanding of this individual most sacred to her was perhaps not the most deeply attuned in the correct ways. She knew more about Kagami than anyone, except perhaps the girl herself, or her twin Tsukasa, but as she boasted such a claim only then did she realize the meager extent to which she truly knew her.

And these troublesome accountabilities, an albatross on the girl's mind, crushing her always under a storm of guilt and uncertainty, tainted happiness seen through a crooked, sly grin. Konata never bothered to look deeper past this cloak; perhaps in her over-fondness of Kagami she was blind to such perceptions, where perhaps others could notice them readily.

A curse of being an Izumi no doubt, one born with the desire to see and understand all, only to be discommoded by the grandeur of the task and see and understand so little as a result. A hasty character trait, an unparalleled eagerness to grow offset by the inability to care long enough to dig deeper past the surface.

It was a mistake she had made countless times before, but not one she would make now. "Hey…Kagamin?" Konata bothered another reply from the custodian, who forwardly noticed the change of intonation present in her heckler. "I…I take it back, I do need you. I need your help. I never realized you were under such stress…I never noticed a lot of things, I guess." Shamefully she recounted her thoughts aloud, gleeful when the ragged specter finally met her sight.

"I just want the burden to end…" Meagerly the conscience repeated, lip aquiver as imaginary forlornness weakened her already weary state.

"I know." The hasty Izumi concluded understandingly. "And I promise I'll do whatever needs to be done to ensure you don't have to carry that burden by yourself anymore, okay? But in order for that to happen, I need you to lead us to the instinct." Despite the urgent assertion she meant it absolutely, when the danger had passed, she would surrender all her attention to heaving her fair share of Kagami's hardships. Under the burden of her task of destroying the Old One, and of locating her missing father, what could one more burden hurt?

Kagami's conscience was placated at first, cheeks rosy from embarrassment, but this side of herself shown itself visibly only at a brief discretion. It seemed the deredere side was powerful within imaginary constructs of her friend's mind as well. "Follow me…" She conceded, dragging her feet with a bit less heaviness than before. "But make it quick! If I have to look at all that…ugh, disgusting filth you're tracking everywhere any longer I am gonna lose my mind…again!" Wailing the conscience frothed, marching to a distinctly separated tile of the patterned walls, slightly chipped and cracked, worn unlike the rest.

"The instinct…?" Konata inquired hopefully, and her inquiry was approved by actions. Salivating denotatively as the pearly square of mixtures was pressed inward like a button, collapsing all surrounding tiles to the side as the wall opened like an entrance to a mighty castle, creaky hinge rustles and sounds of a war-machine beaten door and all.

As she approached the entrance within the gate, Konata saw a blinding blackness, a spiraling staircase into the void the same as last time, going even deeper. Yet this time, no mysterious black hole could be seen at the base of the vortex's staircase, instead, a structure took its place. A large, ceramic-looking pagoda, almost as if it were an oversized dollhouse. It was decorated, likely not for ceremonious purposes, with heavy iron chains strapped around the entirety of the building. A construct designed around the purpose of protecting, or sealing, something. It was the only entity in the mysterious, black void, a true abyss composed of nothingness.

Mutely, as if in a trance, Konata speedily descended the staircase, joined soon thereafter by her two ghostly companions. The plunge to the nethermost reaches of the staircase was a journey far more easily reached than the previous one, no gusting winds or winged horses were required for this journey.

Upon reaching the base, Konata was instantly imprinted with the impression of looming danger, foes unseen, troubles ahead; it ached in her senses with an itching fever. She couldn't have materialized a blade in her hands with her mind fast enough, and her bare nudity splattered thoroughly with chocolate had to be outfitted with more appropriate attire, the same ratty, hand-me-down chainmail and oversized shirt and trousers she always wore were the first thing to come into her mind, and by consequence the armor that adorned her.

"H-Heavy…" Konata breathed with a snicker, wiping the grin off her own face with a shake. "This place feels heavy." She noted in regards to the oppressive atmosphere, seemingly stemming from the monolith of security before them, a veritable Pandora's Box they would no doubt be forced to open, as of course the adventure trope would demand.

Perhaps it was the lack of clarity that brought this uneasiness she wondered, the empty blackness around them was completely obscured, only the slick brick-ground at their feet was shown through the genial flicker of the pagoda's lone twin set of torches on either side of its big, red door.

"Of course." Kagami's conscience stated obviously, to a resident of the mind anyway. "The human instinct is a near forgotten thing, built and layered over throughout our species' evolution by more profound thoughts and feelings, we don't have to rely upon it nearly as much as we used to now that we have things like rationality, and comprehension." An explanation that soared over Konata's head, she wasn't much for the sciences.

"Indeed." The Tsunsteed added in interjection. "Yet here it lays, primal and dormant. Ready to act without thought, prepared to thrive on sudden impulse, with nary a forethought or afterthought to be had in regards to its actions and consequences that may stem from them. The uneasiness you feel…after centuries of repression, the instinct is…testy." Konata's guide related, with a rare stumbling of words. Even the emotionless one seemed troubled by the nasty vibes the area seemed to have in scads.

As if savvy to the group's agitation, the pagoda rumbled ominously with a shuddering beat, unleashing an eerie chorus of a thousand chattering, jingling chains. The torches flames whipped to and fro as if beset upon by a breeze, but no hissing airflow could be felt, just dead, weighted space. Loose tiles and shingles from the building tumbled off the neglected structure, peeling themselves from no-longer sticky filling, shattering into shards from age as they littered the slick ground.

"Okay…" Konata muttered, gulping a throb of saliva. "Now that we're here, what exactly do we do? My keen adventurer's instinct tells me to open the big scary door, but I'm probably not going to enjoy what's behind it, am I?" Befittingly she sweated to her guides; silent nods were her replies, an acknowledgement that she would surely die. She recalled her noble Tsunsteed had told her the dangers within the curious places of one's mind were just as real as those found within the hazardous vistas and villainous castles of Boletaria.

Cautiously she advanced upon the daunting, fearsome looking pagoda, one hand clenching the hilt of her imaginary blade for all it was worth; she could've sworn there were imaginary welts forming in between the cracks of her palm from the pressure. With the other she felt the surface of the door, which her senses strangely could register as wood, chipped over and scabbed with splinters at every curve, the paint on its surface looked as if it hadn't received a once over ever. It was splotched and weary, what was likely once a fiery hell red was now a duller, mahogany thing, yet this added age did nothing to quell her shaking boots.

Curiously she knocked on the door with a closed fist, leaning in as close as she could without touching it, feeling the outer-extensions of her tumbling hair brush up against the bolts and chains across its surface. She listened, but heard nothing; she tested fate by succumbing to the urge to knock once more, far more barbarously this time.

The authoritative and impatient calling proved effective, regardless of the foolhardiness of its practice or practitioner. The interlocking cobweb of chains slithering around the area were suddenly pulled and tugged by unseen forces, sucked into small square slits adorning the pagoda every several feet up its foundations, which Konata only now noticed. Soon the castle lay bare, unlocked, and the still staggeringly despotic red door creaked open, scraping across the ground with a shifting, broom-sweeping sound.

Konata glared within, eyes twitching and soaring everywhere, trying to examine every inch of the straw floors and patterned, scroll-plastered walls for any sight of an enemy, the progenitor of that alarming unrest that continued to cause a painful hammering in her chest. She thought she saw movement in the darkest corner of her eye, but it was her mind playing tricks surely, as she quickly thought she saw a similar insect-like scurrying in the opposite corner.

She took her first careful steps in, placing her exiguous collective weight into her sloppy battle stance, grounded and stiffened legs. The rest of her paltry might was soaked into gripping her blade, prepared at any moment to pull the pin from its plug and strike at the eyes that scrutinized her from the obscure shadiness.

"K-Kagami…?" Nervously she whispered loudly, a call almost completely overshadowed by her husky breathing, and the snap of rigid straw beneath her feet.

The signaling registered within something, as a powerful twirl of wind encircled her, brushed past her and forcefully pulled the doors behind her shut with a deafening slam. Konata wasted no time in reaching for the door, pulling on it with all her strength, slipping from its distorted door handles that refused to budge and falling hard on her rump.

"Kagami…darkness…instinct…broccoli, whatever unseen horror you are, I come mostly in peace!" She guaranteed the impalpable hellion, stumbling to her feet blindly, hypocritically letting loose her blade.

The dogma of peace the Izumi had brought seemed unwelcome; the pagoda shook far more rebelliously than before, fighting against the meddler's will to remain within its secluded walls. The ancient tapestries and stacked pillows and futons toppled over into hilly heaps, mussing the room into even further disrepair.

"Instinct, please! Kagami is in danger…if we don't work together on this, you'll die! She'll die!" The tried and true argument that had failed last time, perhaps it would work with a more simple aspect of Kagami's personality. A meaningless effort it seemed, the pagoda's shaking increased, becoming fiercer by the passing second, it wrenched Konata to her hands and knees so she could maintain some measure of composed stability.

One of the lone, wax-melted candle-torches on the outer side of the castle's doors had apparently shook free, as the flame had now wildly began to gnaw and tear at the flimsy, no doubt very combustible wood of the red entrance door behind her.

This fulgurating lambency provided the sight Konata subconsciously craved that was absent in the blindness of the building until now, but the revelation before her, the visage her enemy took was perhaps something she had been better off not seeing.

A writhing, slimy, scaly, and formless mass of jet black tentacles, twitching anticipatorily. Within the maw of the nameless horror, a Kagami like all the rest, skin snow white, her body hung like a whipped rag-doll from the eldritch horror ripping out of her spine, covering the base of the shafts of tentacles with her own dried, crusty blood. This Kagami looked dead, lifelessly she swayed connected to the far more lively bunches of twisting, stomach-churning links and tubes of fluttering, sweat-soaked flesh.

"Holy innuendo." Konata barely had that brief impasse to crack wise before the aggregate mass of spindly, thick tentacles whipped and slammed throughout the structure at the sight of its foe, crunching holes into the walls, floor, and roof and leaving the pagoda even weaker than before with the elimination of any and all timeless gravity maintained stillness.

The growing flames encircling the hut began to grow as they consumed more and more mass in their hungry daze, the wind-sweeping beget from the tentacle-monster's motions almost seemed to kindle their fury into an even greater menace.

Collapsing debris, brumes of blanketing wood-dust and sprinkling hay, it gathered in the air like a tempestuous snowstorm. Konata fought to see, shielding herself against the onslaught of household appliances and bits of building composite with her thin, ineffective blade. The cacophony concocted an awesome cyclone that effectively leveled the entire structure in seconds. The mind-invader had barely enough time to react to the caving pillars of wood over her head that threatened to crush her like an insect.

With mere inches of breathing room she rolled herself to safety, losing her blade to the accumulations of wreckage. Despite the impetuous maneuver, the bulk of the shapeless, shifting horror allowed it to erase any breathing room she might've gained, stiffening its tentacles into a piercing hold and stabbing into the unfilled orifices of the temples walls and ceiling. This gating technique completely sealed Konata's doom; she was surrounded on all sides by the behemoth of headless snakes.

It occurred to her at this prospect of imminent demise that she currently resided in a realm of infinite possibilities, limitless imaginings were possible here in this most peculiar of places. It seemed to be a recurring theme with her; the most ingenious of ideas always seemed to find their way into her mind at the worst possible moments, after she had already dispensed reasonable plans in favor of astonishingly stupid and inane ones.

"Alright then! Cower and behold, giant phallic-monster! At the awe-inspiring, pants-wetting-ly awesome, fan-girl scream inducing, earth-shattering, run-on sentence preferring might of KILLER KONATA!" At the disclosure of her mind-numbingly autocratic introduction, the azure knight felt the sonority of the dream worlds boundless power ring and chime a potent blast of energy from within her, pouring outward. Her bodies mass increased five-thousand fold, and she became a towering, skulking colossus that reigned above the now feeble pagoda menacingly. She laughed proudly, boasting her might by stomping on one of the collections of tentacles and gleaming as they squealed like swine, spraying their deep purple blood in droves.

More importantly, Konata gazed down her shirt, triumphantly beating a hand to her chest with a sneering cackle, groping herself without shame. "Hey look, I actually have boobs now!" She japed delightedly, setting aside her sudden growth spurt to claw at the scrambling mess of tentacles below her and scoop it up into her hand. The horrifying beastie was now no larger than a mouse to her, and wickedly she pawed and prodded at it as though she were the feline that had just secured its meal.

"Were I capable of pity, I would be feeling it in alarming amounts for that gross, squishy monster." Konata's Tsunsteed rued tonelessly as she she stared displeased at the wreckage of the pagoda.

"I wouldn't…disgusting thing." The conscience professed dissonantly, trying her best to shield her eyes from the unclean, unsightly monstrosity.

Holding the archaic evil in the palm of her now morbidly slimy palm, Konata prodded and nudged the defunct Kagami clone attached to it in hopes she would awaken. The annoying shoving seemed to stir some germination of life within the girl, fluttering, blood-shot eyes lifted themselves tiredly to acknowledge the giantess crushing its host of tentacles.

"Hey!" Konata greeted, her booming voice producing a whip of twirling wind, ripping the bow-ties from the instinct Kagami's locks, mussing it unconcernedly. "So you're the instinct, huh? Don't talk much do ya? Good, because what I've got to say is pretty important." She announced to the vision, ensuring the tales eminence. "Kagami, you, I mean, you're gonna die in the real world if you don't do exactly as I say. Pretty soon there's gonna be a big mess of something entering your body, this something is gonna be able to sustain you in the real world from…well, you got hurt pretty bad okay? I need you to show me where Kagami is, the real one, I mean. I really need to talk to her." Urgently she replicated, praying her test of might against the age-old warrior had given it some respect for her, perhaps even enough to aid her in this oh so simple of tasks.

"Set me down, please." Kagami's instinct requested humbly, finally speaking up from her passive silence.

Honoring the desire without question, Konata set the formidable foe at her feet, preparing to step upon it with the heel of her giant foot if it made any undesirable movements. But the beast seemed in the mood for obeying, it squirmed away to the destroyed hovel that was once an elegantly crafted home, curling itself into a ball and adumbrating its Kagami within a constriction of feelers and sticky limbs.

The instinct began to brighten, flush a febrile deep orange, as if it had suddenly taken one of the spreading flames to its body. Steam began to ramify outward, fogging the castle's interior in a misty smokescreen, which Konata blew upon to erase the fog in case the monster had decided to make a cowardly run for it.

With the smoke cleared, the instinct was indeed gone, but something took its place. Perhaps it had heeded Konata's words after all, for a preciously crafted, gold-studded and jewel-lined cage of sorts replaced the missing monstrosity. It looked eerily familiar, not unlike the greed imbued staircases of dream landscapes she had ventured to earlier, but she paid it no mind, the only matter she attended to was its purpose.

Konata willed herself back to normal size, face suffused with melancholy as she lost the ability to tower over a building, and instead found herself looking upward once more at the former splendor of zenith. She began to take the first few cautious steps inward again, until she noticed her traveling companions had gone missing, they too seemed to have disappeared.

With a slight tingle of regret at not being able to thank them properly, or wish them a heartfelt farewell, Konata pushed it aside to attend to the cage. Evocative, startlingly so, these architectures of exorbitant grandeur invoked a certain feeling of dread, reminiscent dread. Konata hoped their significance would be lost upon her, but she felt something just as she had before, these hoggish workings were of her own mind not Kagami's, but the why, she could not deduce. She could only guess that these redoubtable contraptions would no doubt seek to pervade her mind another day, but not now.

Almost regrettably she stepped into the swinging open doors of the cage, hearing them click and lock shut behind her, trapping her within their metal claws. She waited for something to become of her, or the cage, and it did, it submerged into the dusty ground like an elevator. It brought her down, deep into the nothingness through which her eyes could not perceive, she saw only a daft blankness.

Yet even without the proper mechanisms, or so much as a courtesy rope, the elevator seemed to have a destination in mind deep within the subconscious. It was several minutes of awkward silence alone with only her thoughts to keep her company before Konata was startled from her daze as the creaky bars of the door swung open, revealing to her something straight from a fairy tale.

A forgotten temple courtyard, eaten away by nature, sprawling with tangled vines and bushes of the brightest red roses. Loose tiles and overturned trees littered the path leading to a derelict fountain, no longer sprouting trickles of fresh water, dry as bone. Light rustles of the wind shook the few standing trees, tugging their saplings from their hold to the ground below to make lives for themselves, sapping thirst from a precarious flowing stretch of stream that leaked through a hole in the high stone walls roping about the courtyard.

How long had this temple been forgotten? What purpose did it serve back when it held one? No signs of battle, in fact no signs of human or animal life to be found anywhere. Neither buzzing of cicadas, nor tweeting tweets of birds were heard, only the blow of the wind and the trees. It occurred to Konata only after such a thought that perhaps it didn't matter, in an imaginary space that defied natural law, perhaps it had always been this way.

Konata found that she was oddly enraptured by the place; it drew breath from her, not words. For one who could never stop talking she found that strangely she had nothing to say, there were no words fitting enough to describe the places beauty anyhow.

As she stepped into the courtyard, she heard the crunch of snapping marble walkway plates beneath her feet, it seemed as if imaginary life hadn't set place in this gentle abode for quite some time, even the tiniest pressure was enough to endanger the perfectly preserved specimen of time. She had to remind herself again the defilement of this place was purely imaginary, it wasn't a real locale, a real time swept fantasy, just your run of the mill figurative fantasy.

Entering the lone, broken down door of the inner area of the sanctum, Konata finally found what she had come for, she thought anyway. A large, fluffy, sky-blue covered bed sat unconventionally in the center of the room, fresh looking in contrast to the antique place. Kagami, the real one she hoped, lay sleeping peacefully nestled within a nest of blankets and pillows, her long violet hair free and waving across the hilly fabrics of the coverings. As she gazed upon her, she doubted the specters of Kagami's mind would lie to her, this had to be the real Kagami, as per her instructions the girl before her could be no one else.

"Kagami…?" Konata breathed heavily, creeping up to the edge of the bed slowly as not to awake the sleeping girl.

Konata saw only perfection as she dawned upon her friend's sleeping form, absolute brilliance, resolute pulchritude in its most pure of forms. Such sights were hard to describe, far easier to simply understand. Konata understood plainly, that this woman, this paragon of all she held dear, was undeserving of one who would place her in such jeopardy. Even now as she stood selfishly wasting time regarding something as trivial by context as beauty, she did nothing but place her in harm's way. No time to brood, excogitations could be saved for a less pressing hour. The increasingly pensive Izumi seemed to have a nasty habit of reflecting in the most tumultuous of times, she'd have to work on that.

Daintily she stroked Kagami's sleeping face, patting it convivially to provoke her. The slumbering girl's nose twiddled and twitched at the sensation, eventually stirring her from the dead sleep. It took her a rubbing of the eye, a crack of the neck, and a long, hard stretch to the skies before she noticed the bedside squatter presiding over her recently sleeping self.

"Oh god…" Kagami muttered as her vision became clearer; she saw all the blue hues she needed to recognize who it was. "You didn't…drug me or something, did you? Or worse…" At the disturbing thought Kagami peeled her bedspread off of her torso, sighing with relief when she noticed some form of clothing was still intact.

"I wish, but we've got somethin' pretty heavy going on right now." Konata solemnly explained, obviously not her usual self, a peculiar trait of minor note to her still groggy friend.

"Great." Kagami muttered bitterly, rubbing her eyes in frustration. "Lemme guess, I died and went to hell and my punishment is spending an eternity alone with you?" She balked resentfully, crawling herself to the edge of the bed to sit dejectedly.

"Even worse!" Konata asserted, trying her best to maintain a composure that was anything but her usual self. "Kagami this is gonna sound pretty stupid, but please, I'm begging you to bear with me." She ingeminated profusely, clasping her hands in a begging shake to prove her sincerity.

Kagami scoffed sarcastically with a harrumph, but she complied, deciding to give the twerp the benefit of the doubt as her expression actually looked quite dire. "Coming from you I don't doubt it, but I'll bite, what's up?" Ponderously she inquired, sluggishly standing from her bed and giving another snapping stretch.

"Okay." Konata started with a sigh, holding in her breath for another long-winded explanation. "This is a dream; in the real world…you're dying. The others are doing all they can to save you out there, but they'll need some help, your help. When the time comes…and I have a preeeeetty good feeling you'll know when that is, just accept it, alright? It's the only way to save you." Mysteriously she conveyed her orders, knowing if she went into specifics the manifestation of her friend would refuse in an instant. Kagami was lax to do even simple idiotic things for her friend, if Konata told her to accept the soul of a powerful demon into her body, there would be absolutely no discussion on the matter.

"You're right, that does sound stupid. And accept what?" Indignantly Kagami asked, hoping for at least one meaty detail, but Konata seemed button-lipped on the matter.

"Just please. Kagami, I swear to you…I…" The azure knight's speech disassembled into sputtering mutterings of frustration, she was desperate at this point. "Please, for the love of all, have you ever seen me beg like this? Why would I grovel if I wasn't sincere? My adventurer's pride wouldn't allow it! Please, I'm begging you, just accept it!" She implored weakly, dropping to her knees to authenticate her candor, her absolute fealty to this cause.

"Pfft." Kagami fluttered, ticking her fingers away at her sleeve. "I can think of plenty of times you've begged like a child to get your way, I'm not really seeing the difference this time. Whatever it is, I refuse; now get out of my dream before you do something stupid." A heated rebuff, Kagami was consummate in her answer, turning away from Konata to admire the dreamy world she found herself in, figuring she ought to bask in the view while she found herself here.

Konata racked her mind for something, anything to hold onto. She stumbled in the dark, grabbed at anything she could, she needed to prove to Kagami her probity, she couldn't allow herself to be done in by her own ways that conditioned Kagami's mind into disbelieving her when the time really came that she was genuine about something important.

"Y-You uh…" Konata blunderingly began. "Uh…um…" Another faltering bumble, but the third time was the charm, it hit her just then. "You r-remember back home, when we were kids…we used to sing that stupid song, I can't remember how it went, do you?" Steadier, and with a humbling laugh she reminisced, a throaty choke in her voice that Kagami had suddenly become aware of.

"Sorta…" The apparition of Kagami wondered aloud, doubtful of her memory. "Something about skirts and stars…I don't really…why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?" She asked perplexed, coming around ever so slightly to Konata's demented tale.

"I just sorta remembered it, I guess." The bluenette shrugged, fiddling with her ahoge. "Brain fart." Acting as if she misspoke, Konata recounted her steps, tiredly rubbing her arm in disgruntlement.

"I just remember Tsukasa's voice cracking on the higher notes." Kagami snickered, beginning to recall the memory more vividly. "Oh! And we used it as a secret trust phrase or something to get into our little forts…and even though you made the song up, you could never remember it." Humorously she educed the remembrances out of hiding, culling them warmly from her amnesia.

"Yeah! So you do remember!" Excitedly Konata cheered, balling her fists with a toothy grin. "And I remember one time I messed it up and you guys wouldn't let me in our tree fort, and one of the neighbor's dogs started sniffin' around…he chased me for two blocks before you guys realized I wasn't pulling a prank." Her simper faded slightly at her recollection of that particular event, but the warmth the memory brought about still remained.

"So…" Kagami began deducing, confronting Konata once more. "This is the same deal, then? You're using it as a trust phrase to get me to believe you about your wild story." Sharply analyzed and concluded, expected of one such as Kagami, but it took her friend by surprise nonetheless.

"Yeah." Konata admitted, feeling her voice go hollow near the end of its emission. It wasn't hesitation though; it was far stronger than that, it seemed supernatural. "Unfortunately…I think I have to go now." She figured as her words became lighter, more slight and disquieting in their ghostly howl.

On the edge of the waking world and her dreams she crept, she could've sworn with each blink of her eye the real world panned out before her, then the dream world, shifting with each heavy flutter of her eyelids. She shook her head to maintain her dream body as long as she could, shutting her eyes to reality. Kagami's illusion seemed frightened, she called out to her momentarily, mouthing words Konata was deaf to, she could no longer hear the resplendent stillness of the overgrown garden.

"So, I really hope you believe me, because I think I've done all I can. Accept it. Sayonara!" The dream walker proposed one final time, fading into obscurity until she had ceased to be entirely, washed away in a willowy plumage of smoke.

* * *

"God…stupid thing…ice cream…" Was all that could be extemporized from the distant, abstract speech filling her ears as Konata woke with a winded, raspy clawing for air. And even then she was being generous to the ad-libbing, it may very well have just been intelligible babble, over the twisting snap of the deleterious storm above head even the monsoon of rain found itself overtaken by volume.

"Kagami…?" Konata hoped drowsily as she eyed the figure looming over her, thankfully using their body as an umbrella to shield her from the painful, icy drops of rain.

Alas the provisional parasol was in fact Hiyori Tamura, features awash with not only the feculent sop of the oily rain, but relief at girl's sustained existence. "Ah good, you're alive! I mean awake, awake is what I said. How was it? Trippy right? I still remember my first time…ah, memories. It was awful." Inappropriately she harkened back to irrelevant pastimes, extending a hand to the waterlogged Izumi to assist her in standing.

"Trippy isn't the word I'd of used but…" Konata unsurely grumbled, the literally earth-shaking boom of overhead thunder forcing her more awake than she preferred. "What happened…? I remember you were gonna show me how to get into Kagamin's dreams and then…" Struggling to recall, Konata's eyes fell upon her cousin Yui, collapsed upon the ground next to her with a pulsating lump sprouting from her locks.

"Hm…I…uh…oh!" Hiyori panicked as she followed the azure knight's line of sight, innocently chuckling to herself with a sheepish twirl of her eyes. "Yeah, she got…tired. Huge battle while you were gone, crazy stuff happened…I told her it wasn't a very inconspicuous place to rest, but boy did she insist! She insisted so hard that I decided to…sing her a lullaby, yeah, let's go with that." Transparently she lied, if only Yui had understood that it would take too long for her cousin to fall to sleep naturally, but no, she had to protest with sword in hand, rocks may or may not have been thrown and the guard captain may or may not have lost consciousness and inherited a wallop of a bruise and possible head trauma.

"Tsk tsk, and I thought I was supposed to be the irresponsible cousin." Naively the still-conscious of the cousins reprimanded, rubbing the back of her wretchedly palpitating skull as she gazed upon the utterly rampageous Storm King, who in her absence had apparently gone full berserk and decided the fairest course of action was so eliminate every temple, dead tree, and scorched skeleton that had ever called it names.

"Yeah, he's pissed…gonna make this part harder than I envisioned." Hiyori morosely pointed out, not exactly fervent about the next step of her grand plan to transplant the soul of the demon into Kagami's body. The conditioning of her mind, even if Konata might disagree, into accepting the soul was easily the more manageable of the steps, especially since she hadn't really intended on several factors concerning removing the Storm King's soul.

The removal of the Arch-Fiend's soul didn't seem to be a plan in mind for the awry demonic entity however, likely because it had little mind left to speak of. The senescent mass of life had descended into a rampage thanks to variables unseen, it screeched with a booming bellow, hurling thousands upon thousands of lightning-infused projectiles to the shadowed temples below.

Their heat and by extension speed, turned them into venerable wrecking balls, everything they collided with, be it tall, daunting structures or humble dead trees was violently annihilated by the spears of nature. Rubble seemed to rain as regularly from the resounding explosions as much as the watery rain itself, and even the torrent wouldn't be enough to extinguish the growing walls of raging fires that began to devour everything in sight.

In the distance, Konata was certain she saw the western apex of the shadowed lands cliff-sides begin to collapse in upon themselves, submitting to the raw earthquake that wracked their foundations, plunging entire sections of the temples downward into the ocean or tumbling down endless mountain tops into the fog below.

It was only a matter of time before the destruction consumed not only the abandoned buildings, but the one they currently inhabited as well, by this logic Konata wasted no time in wearily standing to her feet when she spied the encircling Storm King make a pass directly in the monolithic church's direction.

"No! Bad! Really bad! _Run!"_ Konata screamed with all her might, using her meager, flaccid muscles to drag Kagami from the wreckage of the dilapidated church as best she could. Thanks be Hiyori followed suit, dragging Yui for several steps before she noticed the captain chose quite likely the worst day imaginable to be both belligerent towards her antics, and a heavy armor user.

With strong enervation, and slight perversion, Hiyori ripped and tore every plating and buckling she could find on Yui's person, freeing her from the absurdly crafted set and finally being able to drag her tediously from the smoldering church just as a collage of fiery tactical incisions upon the earth were made from above, a hailstorm of angry lightning bolts that utterly obliterated any skeletal remains the structure had left after both Dregling Kagami's assault on it and the untimely torrent after that. A disrespectful set of terrible coincidences for the now defunct house of worship, to be sure.

"Man, and you really _wanted _action like this? Thrill seeker, eh? You're more like a death seeker." Hiyori huffed out in between gasps, moaning with equanimity as she soaked in the sight of the smoldering church, thankful she hadn't joined it in the conflagrant crater where it used to stand.

"Death is exciting, don't judge me!" Konata defended her temerarious ways, wiping her dribbling lip with a snicker as she stood from the filling puddles of rain drenching her bottom.

Luckily for their non flame-retardant, soft, squishy and fragile human bodies that could take no more of colossal stalagmites flung like arrows and blasts of compacted lightning hotter than the sun itself, what few humans remained in the path of destruction the Storm King wrought would be safe for the time being. In its hysteria, the Arch-Fiend had begun to rocket its volleys of lightning bolts into a far off plateau of the lower shadowed temples, a reprieve that likely wouldn't last long.

"Okay, for real. This isn't good…Kagami might be in trouble." The witch Hiyori griped as she clawed at her glasses, smudging them more in her effort to rid them of the endless rainwater than the actual downpour itself. Focusing in on the Arch-Fiend far away through the blurs of heat on her spectacles, she felt only a twang of bleakness; this little detour she had taken across the shadowed temples seemed to be getting worse all the time.

"Er…how so?" Fearfully Konata asked, disturbed that architect of the idea that would save Kagami had suddenly become fidgety and apprehensive.

"Ahaha…ugh…" The mage chortled nervously, tugging at her collar to alleviate a sudden and profound feeling of slight asphyxiation. "Well…I hadn't really anticipated on this thing still being alive for one, and two I had sort of hoped he would be…stationary." Unrealistically she had bet upon, but to a paragon of a prodigy, simply a minor setback. "No matter, no matter though! The fault lies within me for thinking anyone but someone as amazing as myself could fell this beast in a timely matter. I suppose I'll have to do it myself…oh, and you're coming whatever-your-face, somebody has to carry the baggage after all!" Unabashedly she admitted, though apparently lax to explain further. She would require a steady blade, or at least an all-purpose shield of flesh to defend her against oncoming slings of arrows and daggers she'd no doubt come face to face with.

"Coming…? Baggage…?" Konata misunderstood, hovering a spiraled wrist over her brow-line to stay the torrents of rain.

"Right-o! Your dead friends…I mean friends, alive ones…with all their blood still in their bodies, obviously ran into some trouble when trying to slay the Storm King. So you and I will take a trip northward to have a soul to soul chat with Mr. Thunderclap up there ourselves, savvy?" An unreasonably unsympathetic and incautious plan submitted by quite likely the least accredited person for the job, it would have to do. Her plan already in motion, Hiyori dutifully dragged the unconscious Kagami and Yui out of sight over into the first derelict building she could find, where she hoped they'd be safe in her absence.

However even without minding the unconquerable gap of hundreds of feet of empty, typhoon spun air over jagged mountains or the raging sea; one would need a proper grasp and hold to even attempt a climbing up to the Storm King. At the prospect, Konata speculated on just how her friends were even able to surmount the leap, because such a feat certainly seemed impossible from where she was standing.

"How are we gonna reach 'em, though?" Rightly the bluenette inquired, lacking the wings that would be wholly necessary for such a caper.

The most ignominiously mischievous, warped hoot of a cackle exploded from Hiyori's gullet at the rather appropriate sentiment she was confronted with. She creaked her head slowly, maniacally in Konata's direction, bent sideways with a certain resounding cocky absolutism to her barred grin. It could only be described as the expression conveyed when one's egotism bordered on autocratic, in that they, and only they, held the answers necessary to solve everyone's problems and without them their hopes would surely be lost.

"So glad you asked." Hiyori crowed proudly, revealing her hands to the questioner, which had begun to emit a most curious violet aura.

* * *

"So glad you asked!" Misao yelped as the twisted tower of flesh at their front slowly expunged, caving in upon itself and languishing the remains over the bending treetops. "I assume die, because I'm drawing a blank. The others are probably all dead in the time we've wasted attempting to destroy this thing." A disparaging answer for the hit-woman Kuroi, who in her childish fright turned to one of far greater inexperience for help.

"This is a bit beyond even my cunning, I fear." Kuroi augmented to the despair, steadying herself on one of the few still standing trees around them for leverage against the typhoon's winds. "The witch didn't exactly say we'd be up against a creature the size of a mountain." Scornfully she reflected on her orders, criticizing her judgment up to this point. A plan in mind could have made all the difference in their exhilarating ride to the behemoth's back, yet as she stood upon the plains of its hide her mind seemed vacant.

Regarding the cemented sinkhole where Yutaka vanished, Misao knelt to observe it closer, scraping her sharpened nails across the thick mud to ascertain its essence. Grass, fulminations of filth, no wound to be seen despite what the priestess of Umbasa had hastily escaped into, more sleight of hand and magician tricks, things beyond her comprehension. The average individual's ability to fathom is subjective and based wholly on a level of experience concerning the matter.

Magic she knew nothing of, but the concept seemed altogether less avant-garde than the extraordinary shivering hush of an otherworldly breach of space that fortuitously seemed to tear the air in front of her in a swathe of an indigo scar. This portal like entity had appeared from seemingly nowhere, and it appeared ominous to be sure.

"What the-!?" Misao barked in surprise, hopping back like a startled feline and bunching herself onto her haunches in a prepare-to-lunge assailing position. Kuroi and Tsukasa instinctively flinched at the sight of the oddity in space time, shifting the palette of their faces fittingly to that of horror.

The ripple of purple breadth hovering in the air furrowed like a swell in the sea, eventually peeling apart at either side of the seams, devouring space around it entirely as it engorged itself. Its shape was becoming reminiscent of an eye, pulling the threads of its lashes higher vertically to the sky and dirt; yet at the epicenter laid no pupil, no iris, just a confusing coagulation of various colors splitting against one another.

Surprisingly, a human foot wretched itself from the vibrating portal hanging in the air, feeling for presumably solid ground beneath its foot before planting itself firmly. Following the appendage was a dusty, and ragged cloak worn with the ages itself, the garment could have passed for royalty's at one time, but the sundried coloration and moth holes would at best land it in some decrepit museum.

As the figure slowly revealed itself, flipping an upped hood from their head, the assassin amongst their group nearly felt the weight of her own astonishment mingled with understandable anger condense her brain to the size of a plum.

"Tamura…?" Kuroi illegibly muttered, cheeks-a-twitch with justifiable confusion.

"Oh! You guys made it up after all! And are also alive! Stellar!" Exultingly Hiyori replied, as if she hadn't just stepped through a purple hole that had spawned in the air from nothing. Behind her, from the depths of the portal's sea of colors, followed another figure, easily recognizable by all at the sight of a raucous blue mane.

"Kona-Chan!" Tsukasa called delightedly, rushing to her evidently dizzy friend's side to grasp her as she stumbled.

" Tsukasa! Hey-AUGH!" A heartfelt greeting in response, cut off by a mistral of pasty green vomit that arced so perfectly in balance with Misao's rotten karma, splattering itself all across the drudge's head and face in accordance with what she usually deemed as divine equilibrium.

"I don't even care anymore." Misao apathetically claimed, shaking the rancid property from her body with an animalistic shiver.

Hiyori cackled in amusement at the sight, sympathetically patting her rift-hopping companion, Konata, on the back with a smarmy smirk. "Yeah, sorry, sorta forgot to mention. Sometimes the body doesn't really agree with the whole temporal displacement thing, it's a side effect. Uh, incidentally if your pee is purple for the next couple days that's perfectly normal, also just a minor side effect of the transference process." Ambiguously she explained, dropping esoteric terminology only she was perceptive to.

Almost drained of sense Kuroi concavely slumped, snapping from her euphoria as the breach in space behind the sudden arrivals snapped shut with a willowy flash. "Okay, really? I mean, really? What in the heck was that?" Ponderously she asked, still taken aback from whatever it was she had seen.

"Temporal displacement! Moving matter from one point in space, to another." Honestly Hiyori explained, with nary a dollop of wonder in her tone, such a conversational topic was fairly conventional to one such as her it seemed. "Remember back when you 'hired' me back in the Latrian prisons, Nanako? Well, sorta glad you did, because before that I was attempting to perfect this particular magic to ensure my escape from that cage…but true story, I woke up one morning and that infernally hard to create warp bubble I made was just gone! Coulda sworn I was working on it…anyway, the magic in particular uses a similar theory as those Nexus talismans of yours." Candidly did the inter-dimensional hopper unravel the secrets behind her rather unique method of travel.

"Huh, fair enough." Kuroi accepted, far less weary of the procedure when it was placed in bounds she was familiar with. "But what are you doing _here? _Weren't you saving Hiiragi?" She argued optimistically, somewhat for her own conscience, she prayed the absent-minded magician hadn't completely forgotten her duty.

"Yup, and your sorry buns too!" Cordially the group's apparent rescuer replied. "Now how's-a-bout we get down to business? The Storm King…not dead, why?" Affrontingly Hiyori grated, tapping her foot childishly as to await a proper answer.

"Uh…we ran into some trouble?" Misao indicated, and rightfully so, had Yutaka not stalled them like she had they may've found a method to fell the creature by now.

"BZZT!" Hiyori heckled juvenilely, re-setting the frames of her glasses atop the bridge of her nose. "No! Because you're grade-A losers! Which is why I, a grade-A winner of the highest caliber, have come to assist you! Bask in the grandeur that is me!" Boastfully she suggested, pushing herself past the rabble so that they might drivel at the very sight of her.

"W-What're you gonna do…?" Konata inquired, still holding her shifting stomach in her hands, mind still attempting to cope with the indefinable horrors she witnessed in between the layers of space.

That same creepy facet of Hiyori pre-teleportation resurfaced again at the notion, yet this time with doubly the arrogance. "A little mind molestation…" Sinisterly she specified, greasing her palms together in readiness for the mental exasperation. "Take care of my precious body, won't you? Oh, and word to the wise, you're gonna want to hold onto something." Hiyori both ordered and advised, placing the imperative protection of her form within the hands of the closest confidant, Konata.

"Huh?" Konata quizzically mumbled, mighty perplexed at the order given.

Tsukasa, equally as perturbed, so eloquently expressed her concern by breaking down into a sobbing mess of a child. "H-Hold onto something? What're you t-talking about!? Please d-don't tell me you're going to do something c-crazy…I don't think I can handle any more crazy today…" Disapprovingly Tsukasa griped, wiping a bubbly snot-bubble escaping from her nostril.

"Dear child…" Hiyori paused mid-strive, swinging her body around in a display that oozed style, giving special prominence to a heroic pose that had all but a spotlight to accentuate it. "I am Hiyori Tamura, and crazy and I have an established understanding, it provides me with the insanity and lack of apprehension required to make all the zany things I do possible! And in return, I provide it with the best seat in the house with which to watch the chaos I sew! Not crazy is not an option with me, I'm afraid!" An intimidating proclamation to be sure, perhaps Konata had been unwise in selecting the very first person who offered to save her dear friend.

Kuroi, savvy to the absurdity that both resonated from and followed Hiyori Tamura on a regular basis, nervously groped at the mage's feathery cuff to stall her mad advance. "Hey, and what about us!? Hold onto something…indeed! You get us down from here if you wanna play crazy, I'm not game! Living has benefits I'm not quite ready to shed! Use that…whatever the hell you did to get us back to the plateau!" Begging was what the request came off as, and Hiyori wasn't completely heartless, she feigned the sappiest pout she could muster.

"Can't, it can only be done once a day." Truthfully Hiyori asserted, shrugging her shoulders in another bluff of sympathy, hoping for another well-earned screech of adorable frustration from her amusing newfound allies.

"Who made that stupid rule!?" Grievingly Kuroi wailed, shaking the clutch of the mage's frilly silken cuff in a huff.

"Me!" Jovially she pointed out, flicking a finger towards the still-swaying Konata. "Prolonged exposure to the forces that guide us from one spot to another…eh well, not so good for the body, especially when done in quick succession." Ominously Hiyori stated, cautioning her fellows was all she could do, she certainly couldn't risk their lives by showing them first-hand the fatal side-effects of such dark arts. "So! I take it I've made my point and I can get to work in succeeding where you've all failed?" She asked annoyed, tapping an equally miffed finger to her chin in displeasure.

Kuroi wasn't one to relinquish her own security in any situation, by her hand, or at least sating herself in her mind under false belief, that she was in control of every element opposed to her was something she required to thrive. Hiyori was the most anomalous of rogue elements, impossible to control, far harder to idly allow to carry out her whims; this was something beyond her authority. And as she had no superior ideas, and had a somewhat strong, though critical opinion of Hiyori as a whole, she truly believed the magician to be the only one with the know-how to fell the demon at this point.

Shaking her head resentfully, and scrunching her eyes beneath her taught leather grip, Kuroi ushered the words she'd sooner die than say again. "I leave it in your hands, Tamura. Don't take long, don't do anything stupid, and don't disappoint me." Embittered, but more trustingly, she posed.

Hiyori gleefully sneered in repose at the almost kind words from the usually aloof assassin, rubbing the underside of her nose in pride. "I'd have settled for 'don't do anything stupid', thanks Nanako." With those rare words of admiration from a more straight-faced, genuine Hiyori, the sorceress turned heel to dig herself into the ground stoutly.

Whatever bewitched séance the mage had gathered herself to perform, it was brief instance of a ritual, and decidedly unspectacular, or at least in comparison to the tear in space she had opened but moments ago. Her raven head lolled back, jaw unhinged, followed by a fulgurating glare of silver and gold substance that tore itself from the sunken gullet of her throat, looming in the air briefly with a chattering swoop and a whistle, before the disembodied soul of Hiyori responsively rocketed off into the blur of the trees away from its empty shell.

Those left behind in its departure huddled around the befallen shell of Hiyori Tamura, body still and insensate, awaiting the return of its departed soul. Those unaware, which in the current context encompassed everyone, of the mage's special gift for removing herself from her own body were positively perplexed, yet a semblance of understanding seemed to gleam in Nanako Kuroi's eyes.

"Do I even need to ask what that was?" Probed Misao, somewhat glad to see she wasn't the only one amongst their number with an unconventional potential, but still rather uneasy that such a peculiar individual had been assisting them for the brief tenure she had.

"That…" Kuroi began, lifting the unconscious and soulless Hiyori Tamura into her arms in a cradle. "Was Hiyori Tamura."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Next chapter, the exciting conclusion to the Shadowed Temples Arc! Will the Storm King fall? Will Yutaka and Minami succeed in their plot to stop Konata and her ploy to destroy the Old One? Will Misao stop being the butt of every single joke? And will I ever stop writing this crappy, terrible, awful story!?

Stay tuned, or don't. Love you either way.


	26. Death

**Lucky Souls**

* * *

**Chapter 26: Death**

Free of the stuffy and positively ambrosial confines of her fleshly body, Hiyori merrily twirled and spun herself around the trees in her spherical soul form, assiduously seeking out her target, a place that she might overwrite herself upon an already written slate. The goal in mind being to tear the Storm King's will down around it so that she might control it from within, where destruction of the Arch-Fiend would prove easy. While she wasn't sure her own soul would be able to consciously overwrite the soul of the Storm King, she'd certainly try. In this formless form, she was capable of a heightened sense of awareness, specifically recognition of all things otherworldly and soul-seeking. This trait would allow her a far easier method of detection.

In the case of the Storm King, being the size of several castles, finding its soul wouldn't have been difficult. Yet she hadn't anticipated a sprawling thicket of life thriving atop its backside, the conglomeration of souls and energies she felt was burdening, overwhelming, if she still had human senses she'd be suffocating under the weight of the accumulation of noises and smells.

To single her target out, the soul of the Storm King, she'd have to center herself for such a thing. To slowly break away the shell, peel the layers of intelligence, sentience, and instinct that thrived amongst the living things that populated the Storm King's body. Miniscule things of a life-breeding nature were the first to be washed away, the plant life soon followed, those of no thought were the least affected by the Storm King's influence, and the easiest to ascertain as a false lead.

Yet the animals, scampering and scooting about, mindless and endless, their white noise was maddening and blocked nearly any sense of tracking she had. Behind their animated and nigh-involuntary minds was a certain feeling that set them apart from more heinous things, more impulse and less intent. It took a fraction of her will to concentrate and send their noise away, leaving only a pair of omnipotent, oppressing feelings humming from the center of the Storm King, from inside its body. One of these two powerful soul energies could only be the Storm King, as for the other, it was a mystery.

The goal was set, and audaciously she flew herself into the hide of the Arch-Demon, phasing through the solid walls of flesh in her vapor form past mountains of organs grander than townships, and an unfortunate beholding of the decomposing and corrupted layers of flesh that seemed to taint greener, browner, and blacker the deeper she ventured into its body. Curiously, despite the enclosed spaces, glimmers of sunlight could be seen clawing through open sores and wounds thick and deep enough that they broke inward into cavities never meant to come under the influence of the sun.

Layers of skin collapsed inward leading to alien parts of the body, the remnants of demon brood and even the scars of man himself were patterned across once pink, now blood-encrusted tubes and bindings of life sewn into the manta's body. Mucus-like webbings, black as the blackest hells seemed to radiate everywhere, clinging to everything and sapping the life from any blood sack or artery that managed to escape their encroaching drape.

The Old One's feculence truly riddled the poor creature to its very core, and by no means was it still truly alive with the removal of the majority of its important internals, atrophied from nonuse. Blood vessels suctioned together, overlapping and falling from their fragile networks, clogged with dead, hardened blood no longer traveling to their proper functions.

No analogous affinity to be life could be seen, only barely through the pretense of ruptured, inert bodily pieces could one have argued these to once be the production center of a living being. A fractured shell, a cavern devoid of life that now only propagated a disease crafted from an endless being. Hiyori removed herself from this place, shutting herself out from the horror that was the dead internals of this poor beast; she needn't cloud her mind with fatuous concepts such as pity when it would cause a failing in her concentration.

She reached the beacon's focal point but seconds later, arriving in an expansive, mostly-empty hollow of blackened, stony flesh. Here her target would be, eclipsed inside this blackened place, it was pitched black apart from the genial hum of a lone spectrum of whitish bloom from the center of the alcove. Above the lodestar, a still beating heart, resisting the natural flow of death the remainder of the body had undertaken in favor of a blighted, contravening existence. It thumped without blood passing through its mechanisms, it thrived despite the circumstance, and the extraneous ascendancy over it, that whitish gloss, was the perpetrator.

Hiyori motioned herself next to the glow, aware of the human individual standing below its oscillating whip, diminutive and salmon-haired, dressed in a garb of the purest, bleached white. Conspicuously she examined the apparently indifferent girl until she freed herself from her daze, eminently gazing back at the floating soul orb with a petrified whine.

"W-Who…? W-Wha..?" The priestess exhaled exasperatedly, spent from whatever process the recent interloper had delayed, for the better Hiyori figured, it looked and reeked of ill will.

While unable to properly voice her mocking in her soul form, Hiyori made it incontestably clear she was doing so with an almost giggling-esque series of whistles and toots. Twirling her starry body throughout the room as if the center of attention at a ballroom dance, she ended her routine by soaring directly at the sorceress that stood by the Arch-Fiend's organ by some strange machination, forcing her to duck her head as the billowy soul crashed into the bulk of the ruby red heart.

The suffering Hiyori felt from within the heart was palpable; it tried its best to overburden her, to subjugate her to its level of hardship. Hiyori resisted despite this ache of pain, perceiving as best she could, the imperceptible soul that lay dormant within the Storm King's most repressed places. It was here the emanation of the Storm King's soul could be felt, being wrought upon by the mysterious priestess who fashioned her will upon the far more domineering demon.

The child was apparently attempting to control the Storm King, to retrieve its most invidious emotions and goad them into madness. Hiyori didn't know the reason, but thankfully it seemed the cleric had done this scheming with a high disinclination, her will affixed over the Storm King's own was done so only lightly, and the reigns she tugged were barely attached at all. This reluctance was Hiyori's point of entry; she felt the fissure, the irregularity in the pattern of symbiotic waves of the soul.

She allowed her soul form to dissipate, so as to spread her own convictions and character within the Storm King's own, to fuse their souls into a conflicting, and weak product. Hiyori had imprinted herself onto many beings before, both human and beast, even lesser things held some fraction of soul energy within and were capable of possession, which naturally she had to attempt several times just for a bit of fun.

Surprisingly, the Storm King wasn't the most difficult soul to engrave herself within, this easy entry pointed to perhaps the beast offering her a passage with which to invade its mind willingly. Voluntarily perhaps, it allowed her access so that it might finally rest, but this was pure conjecture Hiyori muddled, it only made the job easier.

The Storm King's soul surrendered to her, and was rapidly and entirely consumed by the coming flood of Hiyori's far more amenable psyche. It absorbed any sense of the self that lingered in the carapace, until naught but Hiyori's own soul remained within the hampering muscle. Yet the Storm King's entirety was not annihilated, she could feel the steady beat of a stream of life within her soul, and she would use this life force to annul the Dregling affliction Kagami was suffering so soundly.

But the job came first, the elimination of the great one she now controlled. It took an application of strength to become acclimated to the uneasy feeling of being the puppeteer of such a giant beast, and that feeling of uneasiness would not be shed during her short stay.

Exponentially her senses began to return to her, but not those all too familiar human ones she had grown so fond of, the senses of the Storm King itself. She could see what it saw, a widened, blurry, horizontal stretch of rain-drenched plains and temples and plateaus that spread and trailed in every direction. Upon closer examination she realized the only way she was even able to see past the hurricane was a thin layer of sticky film coating lathered across the eyestalks of the manta, an evolutionary trait brought about for just such occasions. Surviving in storms for an entire lifetime, the beast would need a way to fight against the icy, bitter rain.

Her new body, as immense as it was, felt light as a feather. The bones within her scaly hide were hollow, and surprisingly brittle, she felt that with each and every unbearably slow flap of her gallant wings they might snap off. The absence of normal appendages of any kind brought about a most confusing euphoria, she wondered if perhaps the feeling was at all akin to how those of missing limbs felt, gossamer and subtle, a body not easily governed.

No sense of smell or taste either, the rumblings of a thousand tongues lathering the walls of her enormous, yawning throat proved as much. Coatings of metallically smooth blobs of slime drooped inward and outward from her venerable cavern of a mouth, brushed to and fro across her thousands upon thousands of tiny, sharp teeth by an impressive arrangement of bristles.

Hiyori had invaded the minds and souls of animals before, but not like this. While these phenomenons she perceived were alike in many ways to the creatures she possessed, they felt inconsistent somehow. The Arch-Fiend felt instinctual yes, but there was far deeper, eerily familiar predisposition saddled within the carnal cage. Vaguely the sensation she felt within the Storm King's soul screamed human being, perhaps a side effect of her soul being so far spread within the mountainous creature, yet it didn't feel like her own soul energy. Perhaps it was the Old One, and the tumors filled with sickness it brought, a likely reason for the all-too familiar feeling, but Hiyori couldn't chalk it up to the same omnipresent despotism of the timeless Old One.

The great machine she and Kuroi had found, could what the celestial sight device showed her be true? Could the machine really ascertain the true guts of the Old One? The supremacy, and terribly human control that seemed to radiate from wherever the demon's miasma seemed to spread, it was too familiar to be coincidence, too imaginable to be impossible. She was sure she knew the human disposition she felt, but she had to be sure, and she would find out as soon as the mission was accomplished.

The mission would only end in the Storm King's death however, and the panoramic extension of mountains, temples and waterfalls that she eyed on every side of her through her surprisingly colored vision, they all screamed of tombstone. All perfect places to smash the Arch-Demon headlong into and snuff out its life, with maximum collateral damage for bonus points. Were there no passengers to consider, including her own lifeless body, she'd have dived into the first jagged rock sprouting from the plateau, or dunked herself into the seas below.

A far-off sharp incline of an arc of rock bed curling like a toe-nail over the oceans below would be more than enough of an impact to utterly destroy the Arch-Fiend, slowly she zeroed in on the cliff, preparing the demon she controlled for its doom. She'd warn her allies before impact, however unlikely it seemed that they'd receive the premonitory cautioning, or register that the sirens call meant anything but another inhuman growl. Yet Hiyori would try, and in her demonic tongue she unearthed a gargling, convulsing roar, alarming all who rode the girth of the beast of a sudden hostile wind in the air. She could only pray, metaphorically speaking, that it had achieved some minor success, and they would at least take something away from the demon's low-toned bellow.

* * *

An indistinct and indiscernible boom of sound diverged through the air, swaying trees and brush, pulling the rain to its yawn. It seemed to excurse in all directions, coming from everywhere, reverberating off of everything else, chiming the very earth to screech along with it.

A sign perhaps that Hiyori had either failed or succeeded in her ploy to end the Storm King, but regardless of the outcome Kuroi took it as an ominous foreboding that something disastrous was upon them. She was prepared in full, tying one of her tools of the assassin trade, a thick and surprisingly strong string of metal-coated wire around her waist, the other end tethered safely to the mightiest tree she could find.

The excess of the rope slithered back, around Konata, Tsukasa, and Misao's waists, linking the four of them together in a hopefully unbreakable chain, one that would be all too necessary for the impending destruction. Hiyori's soulless body lay limp at the end of the chain, serving callously as the counter-weight attached to an opposite tree, lifeless or not Kuroi figured Hiyori might as well pitch in during their survival attempt considering how abruptly she left them to fend for themselves.

"Is everyone ready? All braced!?" The hit-woman Kuroi called to her dangling lesser consorts.

Misao furled her attachment to the link to be sure, and then nodded hesitantly. "As I'll ever be." Oddly nervous the assassin had noticed, how unlike the drudge. Fumbling in her anxiousness, Misao reached behind her, grabbing a hold of Tsukasa's hand for leverage, squeezing it for comfort, a succor that her friend gladly offered.

"R-Ready…" Tsukasa concurred, putting on the bravest mask she could concoct.

"Izumi?" Fretfully Kuroi yawped, regarding the child fixing her fastener so that it was upside down, she along with it.

"Checking out my awesome idea?" Konata contemptuously promoted upended, head to the ground and feet in the air as part of her ruse. "So this thing's gonna fall outta the sky, right? Well when it does, it's probably gonna flip, so if I'm upside before that happens…I'll be right-side up when it hits the ground!" A positively ingenious idea she figured, curse her brilliant clairvoyance.

An awkward silence followed, one that would be hard to follow up with anything rational after pure, unadulterated stupidity of that magnitude. Kuroi crowed her lips apart to say something, but it failed her, perhaps for the best. Words held no weight in the situation they now found themselves in anyway, the extirpation was upon them. The Storm King's destruction was finally at hand.

It began in light shakes, careful, almost demure tremors not sure if they should begin the abolition in earnest or wait for a queue from their brethren. And from bashful beginnings they grew in great measure, shaking the sight from the women's eyes from the chattering vibrations. They bolstered against the fluttering ground, and against all odds managed to stay entrenched.

Despite the compacted clutch, the turbulence was of such sonority and the whirlwinds of such aptitude; it both blinded and deafened them to all around them. The pressure clenched their jaws together, grinding teeth upon teeth and popping eardrums effortlessly, they couldn't scream if they tried, and as their twisting locks of hair loosened themselves from ties and bows and holds, slapping one another, and themselves in the face tortuously, they wished only to howl.

And while they remained grounded, the lesser aged trees around them weren't so lucky, they began to abate slowly, ripping from their holds and collapsing as the earthquake rocked the Storm King's voluminous back, being uprooted and sucked away in the vacuum of rain and debris that engulfed them into the swirling twist of oncoming wind. Animals and plants filled the spaces of air as regularly as the pouring rain, being flung and tossed about remorselessly as nature thrashed their dying bodies and torn ligaments into trunks of trees and into the skies above.

And as the rain poured diagonally downwards, curving against the contours of the winds that subjugated it, the grassy turfs and meadows discharged vertically, mixing their flurries of fury with the downpour and creating smokescreens of lavish greens.

The fate of the flora and fauna fortunate enough to be at the opportune place to find death at the actions beget from the howling winds, or the daggers of icy rainfall were spared from a far worse fate of falling into the tentative crevasses crafted by the collision's passion. The very body of the Storm King seemed to crack and dissipate, literally falling to pieces and sinking in upon itself as if even the slightest force would've caused the entirety of the demon to shatter like glass.

Those poor creatures that fell did so into fathomless caverns of decayed flesh and bone, the entrances to which seemed to split by chance alone, completely all around the safe-spot of Konata and her company, stranding them between agglomerations of compressed life sprinkled with a hailstorm of humongous boulders, and vast and boundless apertures submerging all the way to the very belly of the Arch-Demon.

In the sleek cracks of their her vision, past the chaos and unending flashes of heated lightning, Konata became vaguely aware that the rain had suddenly increased in volume and substance, and was distinctly, and suspiciously red. Prying her head against the g-force, she became aware of the mountainside but a dash away that was shredding through the body of the Storm King, smearing and impaling it upon the abundance of jagged, burgeoning stones.

The swell of blood seemed to cleave and fracture the whole of the demon despite the majority of its body being out of the direct impact area of the cliff, causing mass phlebotomy that surged like rivers throughout the once reverenced forests around them, painting a burnished, and consternate glaze across everything the surf touched.

As the billowing rivers of blood reached crescendo, Konata noticed their dangerous proximity, but was powerless to stop the lucent spindrift, and ensuing undulation of pulverizing tides that swirled around her head, neck, and waist until she was completely submerged in the husky, viscous liquid.

Perhaps tying all of her security knots backwards and setting herself in disarray wasn't the most intelligent idea she ever had, she felt the punishment of the ludicrous choice first-hand as her insurance wiring tugged into her skin as the river of blood pulled her, digging into her painfully until appreciatively the encumbrance of the stream forced the lifeline to snap and give way.

She couldn't immediately tell from her disorientating position if the others had been swept away by the current as well, the raving rapids didn't even allow her the courtesy of shutting her mouth against the cascade of foul matter, it garroted her throat and nostrils, forcing a series of pained gyrations and hiccups from every facial cavity she possessed.

The unwilling excursion through the bloody rapine ended thanks be, by her back roughly colliding with a conglomeration of downed trees and nameless refuse, which were slowly but surely scaling tall enough to create a damming system that would stall the lake of blood for the time being.

Konata sluggishly clawed at the thicker branches of the overturned trees for a grasping point, but found herself incapable, the rapids had pinned her against the tree just as surely as the turbulence had earlier. Desperately, and roughly, she felt behind her for anything that could assist her, save her from drowning, and outstandingly she found what she least would expect to clasp onto, a hand.

The extension of Nanako Kuroi, her palm tightly gripped around Konata's; dexterously she was able to extract the child from the flooding area onto the island of downed trees. Absentmindedly she noticed the lifeline around Kuroi's waist had been cut, and Tsukasa, Misao and Hiyori were nowhere to be seen, but the passing thought could be paid little heed in the heat of things.

"Thanks Sensei!" Konata attempted to thank her solemnly, but the screeching winds wouldn't allow this simple kindness, Kuroi was oblivious to the kind words, far more preoccupied with the dam beneath their feet slowly crumbling from immense strain of the raging rapids of blood.

The damn began to cave as expected, and Kuroi knew her options were few, so she chose the conciliatory path despite her fear of an imminent death. With Konata still strung around her wrist, the assassin lifted the child's petite body to the air far above her head, assembling every ounce of strength she possessed to toss the one she swore to defend into the breadth of the Storm King's body that was not yet consumed by the river of blood nearby.

Carried by the wind, Konata vaguely saw the silhouette of Kuroi tumble and plummet with the dam at her feet, both she and the trees that formed its bulk were ravenously brushed into the sea of red obscurity, lost to its hunger.

A montage of confusing churns and twists of unfocused colors and sights filled her vision as she flew to safety, ironically landing painfully with a morbid crack from falling nearly a dozen feet. Konata's interminable and cursory thought process didn't even give her a brief pass to allow grief at Kuroi's possibly grisly fate; her mind was completely affixed to her now gnarled fingers.

She rolled to her back, struggling to see past the rain and her mild concussion to capture a glimpse of her hand, her fingers were completely mangled, middle, ring finger and pinky bent at disfigured angles from the impact on the hard ground the assassin had lobbed her to in desperation.

She cried in pain, a seething misery that eclipsed the distorted pandemonium around her entirely, the only limelight she allowed was that of her own injuries. Not the well being of her friends and allies, nor the storm and destruction that threatened to crush and drown and eviscerate her at any opportunity.

Never before had she felt this way, and never before had she ever considered she would have the capacity to feel this way, to be so enraptured in pain that she was unable to spare a brief period to worry for her friends' safety, or woe at their misfortune.

She didn't care, and it mortified her, she wanted only for the throbbing to cease. For the blood coursing from her split fingers to null, for the prickly, tearing bones visible externally to stop tugging at the tender flaps of her distended skin, she loathed this agony.

In vain she attempted to condense the more sensationally rabid portions of her fractured hand in her good one, squeezing the crippled and defective appendages for any palliation it might offer, and it granted none. It only sought to increase her discomfort. Disorientated in a muddy rage at only exasperating her most disagreeable situation, Konata screeched in chagrin, rolling herself despitefully in the dirt in irritation.

The impetuosity helped to kindle a spirited flame that allotted her enough power to stand from her tantrum-fueled series of half-summersaults. She struggled to keep her unforgiving, flapping hair from covering her eyes, her only remaining tools in the entropy.

Laggardly she took several steps, losing her balance and falling to a bruised and blackened knee to again rue the sickeningly raw throe of her broken fingers, but from this stunted angle she could've sworn she saw the sunflower yellow bow that Tsukasa usually wore but a jog away, downed and immobile.

What Konata perceived as Tsukasa's collapsed figure in between the calmer drenches of gushing rain looked strikingly still; she was caught and pressed between a pair of goliath trees, restraining her between their girths. She looked dead, there was no visible blood or splatter of bodily excrements to be seen, but she had the unmistakable placidity of death about her, Konata had witnessed enough of it by this point to be almost sure of it.

Another figure was seen nearby, albeit far more shrouded behind the blearing deluge, it was probably Misao she figured, the delineation matched her spiky, bedraggled outlining, and the furious tenacity with which the shadow tore the trees broken and crashed over the quiescent Tsukasa showed a dauntlessness that was very redolent of the slave.

"Tsukasa! Misakichi!" Konata tried to call out to them, but still her voice would not heed her, she endeavored to rise once more to toil her way over to meet the two, but the avalanche of sliding rocks and trees around her suddenly caught her hectic attention.

The Storm King had begun to rotate just as Konata had speculated earlier in jest, it was actually happening. The boulders and trees that grew from the demon's back like tumors began to slide and drag across the ever-escalating ground, the larger the load the more they accelerated, using their girth to crush and push the lesser refuse away, giving them priority to cycle and spin down the inclination with zeal.

Feasibly Konata lost her balance, dropping again to her knees to maintain a hold on the slowly rising, bloody and branch laden dust beneath her hands.

She looked again to her allies, Tsukasa and Misao, to ensure they were still safe. To her horror the spread of flesh, the broad and endless mass of body that the two were standing upon had completely begun to vanish, separating itself from the Storm King in another detonation of blood, imploding and breaking inward. It was completely dominated by the ruination.

Furiously she peered back to her clutching paws, balling themselves into fists to hold onto the long, loose grass as the solid ground beneath her feet became ever steeper. She felt the flowers and weeds slithering, slowly, from the powerful hold she had on them, and worse, the bedrock beneath the thickets become loose.

The powerful storm must've been boosting the rate at which the demon coiled itself vertically, it was mere seconds before Konata felt her feet lift from any footing they previously had, they dangled limply beneath her as she frantically tried to dig them against the wall of mossy flesh she clung to, kicking the rough hide in abhorrence to her situation, she was completely forsaken, doomed.

At last her grip failed, profusely wet palms and broken fingers accredited to the defeat, and disconsolately Konata allowed herself to fall, she didn't scramble to ineffectually grab at every stray branch about her person as she flaccidly fell.

It was a surreal scene, gazing at the ever-declining Storm King above her as she fell hundreds, if not thousands of feet. An inundation of demon brood, refuse and littered carcasses of wild life, pools of thickened blood and utterly destroyed land mass fell all around her, she could've sworn she even saw the soulless, flailing body of Hiyori in the landslide of matter. These were her only companions of her swift drop to the bleak, dark oceans below her.

She extended her arms and legs, letting the muscles within relax, and her mind followed suite in this meditation. Apathetically she flinched and jerked as stray pebbles and sharp twigs slashed and punctured her falling body, as she thwacked and brushed up against the occasional hurdling tree or corpse of a bisected demon.

It felt almost serene, peaceful despite the madness that wanted so inexorably for her to succumb to impending delirium; the rushing air, water, and earth around her almost placed her within a completely secluded pocket of private space.

She wrapped herself up in the snug hold of her own body, smirking pitifully, encasing herself in a worriless shell in her mind, one where her body wouldn't smash into a thousand pieces when it collided with the surface of the ocean, being impaled on a poorly placed tree, or crushed under the unfathomable weight of the Storm King plunging above her.

She wondered if perhaps she was already dead, the exhilarating elation she felt seemed reminiscent of when the Gray Demon's hoof collided with her torso many moons ago. Maybe she had drowned in the rivers of blood, or was strangled and choked to death by her own safety line, knowing her she wouldn't have doubted if a stray rock had plowed a hole through her face while she credulously, inappropriately made jokes as she always did.

Living or dead, the cloistered rapture would soon meet its end, the wet misting of the ocean breeze that bristled against her neck hairs confirmed this, the sea was likely only meters away, she could faintly hear the rubble and ruins of the Storm King colliding with the ocean, bringing forth great displays of spraying seawater no doubt. It drew closer and closer, implausibly slow, and then the sudden and sharp sensation of the sea cupping her body could at last be felt.

Perhaps this was what it was like to live as the demons did, passionate and always entrancing, exhausted by pain and adversity, but without fear. Konata mused that to live with misery everlasting, to suffer under the overwhelming, incogitable pain, would be an existence worth its torment, if only for the promise of an end to fear.

* * *

The pitiless surge, that uprising bloat, the crest of the sea brought about by the recent destruction proved unrelenting. Tsukasa couldn't fight its current as she struggled to swim, nor could she see past the thick clouds of shuffling sand, cruelly they deprived her of any ability to identify a proper latching point for safety. Urgently she propelled herself from the drift with a precious need for even one breath, but just as soon as her lips tasted the revitalizing air she was imbibed yet again underneath the surface.

Her thrashing body collided with a protruding stalagmite of volcanic bedrock, appreciatively stalling the reversing waves from sweeping her out further into the endless sea. She used this sturdy hold to slink her way around the circular shaft of the protrusion, noticing the sea level grown shallower in the direction she now faced, a colorful enswathe of coral and saltwater fish could be seen, clearly visible in the far less murky shoal.

The sputtering and brief inhale she had taken previously had reached its limits; the briny water seeped through the crack of her lips, and miserably burned her nostrils. If she resurfaced, or lessened her grip on the jagged stone at all, there was a good chance she'd be lost to the forcefully, and literally, captivating allure of the sea. Such a fate was substandard, and she had no intentions of succumbing to such a tumescent end.

Surprising to even herself, she had hatched an agreeable plan, despite the lack of proper oxygen filling her body. She waited patiently, though agonizingly, covering her mouth with several festering coughs as her mouth became engorged with water, and her lungs eroded of air. The oceans waves pulled and pushed once more, and she allowed the lap to pass before enacting the scheme.

When the rushing sea surged behind her rocky hold, she loosened her tight grip on its painfully grainy, spiky surface to allow her body to be swept along, gliding it swiftly towards the growing sandbar. She clenched herself to endure the scraping and poking of the scabrous coral reef, thankfully passing by the field of substitute daggers unharmed sans a scratch or two.

Circumspectly she allowed her drooping feet to scrape against the sand beneath her until she was grounded. Rigidly she held herself to the dusty floor, slowly wading herself from chest-high waves to ankle-deep pools, and at last onto the shifting, sandy shores of the beach below the shadowed temples cliffs above.

Enervated both mentally and physically from barely surviving the fall of the Storm King, Tsukasa only took a few more stumbling steps before she empowered her legs the grace of a break from holding up her waterlogged body, but being cautious, she crawled several more feet across the beach just in case a particularly gnarly wave decided to butt its ugly, blue head in on her reprieve.

She was too disorientated to consider the possibility of what had happened, or the implications such troubling thoughts grimly brought with them, and far too effete to even begin to comprehend any sense of it all. There was too much chaos teeming about her at the time of the Storm King's annihilation, too much pain, she hardly remembered anything except the unpleasantly sharp rain, and the hollow look in Misao's eyes as she was consumed totally by a racket of destruction. Thanks be it seemed the rain and storm along with it had subsided for the time being, although she could still feel the astringent sting of individual dollops of cold rain all over her body.

And while the destruction was over, were it not for said devastation she surely would've perished by any number of falling horrors, or the incredible drop to the ocean itself from the hide of the falling Arch-Demon. The piling litter, now superfluous waste had saved her, broken trees and large, distended clumps of severed flesh had created veritable secured cushions, holding her in place between their involuntary squeeze during the plummet.

What an awful thought, to think that the same destruction that may have ended her friends in its ruination had also saved her life, it made her sick, but not as ill as the wafting permeation of rot that began to fill her senses. She wasn't privy to it neck-deep in slimy sea water, but now she could smell it, perhaps the storm had muddled the muggy air, but with its departure the putrid stench hung around detestably.

The smell appeared to originate from the sea, and Tsukasa couldn't have missed the forebear of the scent if she tried. The slashed, eviscerated, literally blown apart body of the Storm King loomed on the horizon of the sea, so super massive it extended from a stretch of ocean that had to be at least hundreds of feet deep. The menagerie of exotic plant and animal life that had grown and lived upon its body scattered the waves about its girth, glossing the sea red with their leaky corpses.

The sea beat upon its body harmoniously, scaling higher up the towering walls of flesh with each enfolding rumple, doing its best to clean the endless flow of blood that seemed to spray from even the tiniest wounds. Gulls, and other parasites, flocked to the recent deluge of food, overshadowing its presence by the tens of thousands, the creatures did their best to consume everything in sight, and with their plentiful number, they began to chew holes in the beaten bodies in no time at all.

A series of islands formed from flesh and death, hewed and sculpted by the reddened cliff side above, splattered and painted with entrails trailing all the way up to the apex of the mountains. Some floating pieces still resembled colossal fins or fleshly vanes, even the remnants of an eye stock could be seen partially whole amongst the heap of unnamed parts. Yet the preponderance of the monstrosity was punctured abundantly, by broken trees and once deep-seated mountains, the nature's bounty had carved open entire sections of the torso, and wings of the demon, spilling the insides out.

It was only now, gazing upon this disaster that Tsukasa realized just how many warriors had fallen to the Storm King in times past. Hundreds, if not thousands of human skeletal bodies, dotted the waters just as numerously as the demon brood born from the soil of the Arch-Fiend, reducing in number every time an upsurge of sea sucked their forgotten bones into whirlpools.

An unreal display of death, profound cessations of such a scale were something no person was ever meant to see. The lives of the old, the new, human and non, snuffed out by the literal thousands, it was a debilitating harshness, an extirpation too unlawful to grieve for, Tsukasa was abashed, stunned to hard taciturnity. Was this what the Monumental desired? Was this the job she and the others had set out to accomplish?

She was prepared to fight demons, to kill if, and when she must, and even prepared with some minor protest to give up her life if necessary to preserve the balance the Old One hoped to spin unrelentingly from its harmony. And of course, as originally ordained to her by a good friend, she was fully willing to give her all in the search for Konata's missing father.

Yet now, as she observed the expanse of lifelessness, a hitch in her nerve bore a chip, one she feared would never be filled. The doubt she had felt before hadn't completely invalidated her prior convictions, but they were shaken, this much she could be sure of. Perhaps if destroying the Old One meant such atrocities must come to pass, even if it was the sacrifice of a few for the sake of many, she wasn't sure she could go on committing such sins day by day any longer.

"Pain." A voice spoke tenderly but a single word from somewhere behind her back, and as Tsukasa turned to face the sudden despondent wail, hoping perhaps it was one of her comrades; she nearly toppled over from her haunch in fright when she saw a heavily wounded yet still standing Yutaka and Minami. Somehow it seemed the two had survived the conflict with her allies, and even the chaos during the destruction of the Storm King, they likely had their demon blood and undead perseverance to fall back on in such an event.

Wordlessly Tsukasa depressed her bangs over her eyes, hiding the crusaders from her vision out of fear, wobbly placing her flat palms on the beach to prove her compliant subjugation. "P-Please…" Tsukasa unstably whispered, helpless without the weapon, or courage necessary to face these foes. "Don't k-kill me…" She begged, tucking her quivering lower lip under its partner with a bite, shutting herself out to whatever outcome may be presented to her forthwith, whether it be words or a blade.

Yutaka quivered at the sight, kneeling downward with the help of her knight of Garland until she was at eye level with the genuflecting Tsukasa. "There has been enough death today, I think." Yutaka expressed sorrowfully, affectionately clapping a hand to her bowing enemy's shoulder, alarmed by her almost vibrating body that was pulsating in fear.

"D-Death…" Tsukasa repeated, shaking her head in utter disbelief. "All that life…and it was us…I-I never…I didn't think we would be doing things like this…I don't, I don't even know what…" Gradually she stammered, faltering in her words, slowly growing more and more deficient in creed.

Humbly Yutaka swiped her lengthy sleeve across the teary cheeks of her enemy, standing away from her palliation of the child to gaze towards the open sea at the shocking insolvency of common sense. "Mourn for your sins, but always look forward." Wisely Yutaka recommended, all too often a hypocrite in such a philosophy, but she did her best to adhere to it.

"I can't…" The bubbling Tsukasa admitted, sniveling to herself pitifully. "I'm not like you…I'm not…I'm not like Kona-Chan, or my sister…or Miyuki-Chan…I just can't do this. I can't look forward, because everything I see ahead…scares me." Painfully she confessed, pressing a finger to her leaking eyes. "I see pain, and…and, and death…and I just can't deal with that anymore!" Inauspiciously the ever more dismal Hiiragi fell, until she wretched her head in frustration, squeezing tufts of hair in her fingers in defeat as she sobbed powerfully.

"There will always be pain, and even death, in life." Minami warned, not wishing for the broken child at her feet to be lost to despair. "In times such as these, you need only hope. Hope will not hide the painful truth from you, but it is comforting. In comfort we can bear the weight of our sins, no matter how heavy." The knight of Garland spoke as if all too familiar on the subject, a subtlety in voice that Tsukasa picked up on.

"But how…!?" The melancholy Tsukasa pleaded, drooping her face to the sandy beach, crying into its musky huff. "What comfort can I possibly find in a situation such as this…? What hope do I have?" Sniffling, Tsukasa looked to the sixth saint, who could not bear to reciprocate the begging stare.

Yutaka persisted even in her declining state, a saint's duty was to provide ample remedy to any pain, be it physical or otherwise. This confused, desolate innocent cried out for reprieve, for an end to her suffering, just as their dying world, just as the former husk of the Old One. She could not abandon the forlorn being despite their dispute, nor would she if given the chance.

"A hope…" Yutaka started brightly, affixing her gaze to the clouded skies above. "That for the remainder of our world's days, we find peace. A hope that charity will broaden, hatred will diminish, and love shall blossom. I hope for such a world as we wait out the end of days…where humans cease to be humans, and simply be." Profound, but still slightly melancholic, Yutaka's conviction to allow the world to ride out the remainder of its time under the Old One's miasma held true yet again.

Betrayal was the only word that entered Tsukasa's mind as she grew happier with Yutaka's words, duplicity of an insidious nature; it manifested itself in the stinging dubiousness that continued to suppurate within her like a poison. Horrifically, she agreed with Yutaka's ideals, she saw the sense of allowing the world to die out under the Old One's rot, if and only if, such an event were to render things like hatred and the need for wanton destruction null. Despite her earlier claims, perhaps seeing at last what she needed to see, the death of the Storm King, rendered Tsukasa's prior convictions too shaken to believe. Making the decision for an entire planet concerning their fate, perhaps it was a goal too great to bear.

And even putting belief aside, the Monumental was as trustworthy as the crusaders, which wasn't saying much, and even if it was telling the truth who was to say the disciples of Umbasa weren't doing the same? There are two sides to every argument, and either side usually admonishes, and forgets the other whilst voicing their own side. Therein lies the faulty of a debate, how can one truly and ambitiously spout their illimitable idealism if they don't understand what it is that they're opposed to?

Her friends and allies would no doubt censure her for these treasonous thoughts, and mayhap it would only prove Kagami's initial criticism of her journeying along with them true, perhaps she wasn't cut out to be a warrior, especially one who laid their stake in the desolate badlands of Boletaria. But it was this same irresoluteness that drove her to pursue this new path, she had felt nothing but unsure of herself as an individual ever since she strongly proclaimed she was tenacious enough to come along on this journey.

Perhaps the Monumental was right, and Konata and her father were the anomalies it had been waiting millennia for, a one in a million chance to smite the Old One once and for all, but even with these variables such a task would be daunting, perhaps impossible.

Yet Tsukasa could see that these crusaders, Yutaka and Minami, had the strength of body and character to carry out such a mission, they had the power necessary to do what needed to be done to preserve the world. With their hearty bravura, otherworldly powers, and advanced, in-depth knowledge of the world they lived in, they had her own crew completely outclassed in every statistic and category when it came to a viable plan for saving their dying world.

Tsukasa wasn't readily willing to pay the price of her friends and families love and trust on a gamble that her enemies might be right, but she had to know, she would risk these things in the hope that were either side to fail in their endeavors, perhaps the other one would be able to succeed. And even if Konata and the Monumental were right, she had to know why the crusaders believed them to be wrong.

"T-Ta…" Tsukasa mumbled, wobbly standing from her slump to bravely face the more diminutive of the crusaders. "M-May I…make a request…?" She beseeched to the saint, who seemed noticeably convinced of what her enemy might request.

"You may." Yutaka approved, eyeing her knight of Garland behind the innocent, who seemed oddly percipient of the incoming inquiry, just as she.

"I…I…I don't have much hope left, but…" Tsukasa stammered, breathing deep to rally her spirit. "With what hope I have…I hope for a world where Onee-Chan can be happy. A world where my friends…my home…everyone, can be happy. What you wish for…the Old One, to remain; it is not such a bad thing I think." A selfless doctrine was spoken, it emboldened Tsukasa despite her modestly skittish aura, she felt very brave just speaking such words of folly.

"A beautiful hope." Yutaka graciously complimented, smiling sappily.

"Yes…" Tsukasa agreed, returning the grin. "But I don't think it'll happen…not if the Old One is destroyed…not if we have to keep…killing like this. Not if so many have to die...So please, I beg of you, wherever you are destined…I…I wish to follow. P-Please, take me with you!" She implored to the crusaders, beseeching them to lead her to a world where her hope would be made manifest.

* * *

Slimy, slick, and wet, riddled with tumors and soaked in blood, Misao could barely see past the luxuriant filthy heaps of decomposing body parts. It obstructed her path, blockading her from the clement sun that beat through the wedged segments of the Storm King's flesh that buried her beneath its heap. With purpose she pushed upward, impassively compressing herself beneath the bulk of the filth, mustering her valor to tear her way through the linings of decayed flesh little by little, until she could at last feel a dollop of attentive sunlight on her cheeks.

"Sweet mama, that stinks!" Misao moaned in displeasure, birthing herself from the split crevasse of the bloated lump of an organ and shaking herself free of a clingy vital that had been roped about her feet.

And what ruins she saw as she liberated herself to the open air again, plentiful flotsam, littered shambles of a once great creature now wafting on the seashore. It was hard to believe such a mass of living things could become so inanimate, but by the test of the annihilated masses of entities here stood the proof. Who knows how many critters tall and small, not to mention the copious flora and demon brood perished in the collapsing chaos?

And even if any survived, without their no doubt unique asylum they'd be easy pickings for the demons and creatures that roamed the forgotten walls of the Shadowed Lands, they weren't meant to thrive anywhere but the back of the Storm King.

A wantonly unnecessary horror on the whole, but little time would be wasted frittering away on what could have been. And while the foundation of life that was the Arch-Fiend had completely collapsed, the aura of her allies could still be felt lost amongst the litter of the Storm King; she had grown accustomed to their exclusive aromas, and the excitation she received only when in close proximity to them.

The scents of Tamura particularly were unfamiliar to her, but she could faintly detect what could only be the mage's own vital signs as well resonating within her mind's eye. A human's life force was so much easier to discern than that of an animal, or a demon. To sense a human was a very delicate, almost poetic feeling, it came without weight, but was heavily disseminated a certain passion that was bound only to the intrinsic and stubborn human spirit.

A demon or a beast were primal, erratic and hard to focus upon. For a mind and soul completely built off of instinct and primordial conditioning, to be able to concentrate on them for very long was a difficult task, they'd quickly fade from mind as quickly as their auras were known.

Still, that fact didn't seem to indulge normalcy for the present, a trio of spiraling life energies became known to her, and she definitely recognized at least one of them to be Tsukasa Hiiragi. The scent of uneasiness, and panic-induced cold sweat constantly clung to her, and they remained as poignant to her nostrils even now. The other two however, reeked of a demonic essence, and if the girl was in trouble she had no time to waste.

Heaving herself up a small incline of rippled flesh, Misao gazed over the wall of bones, attentively watchful of the remote environments before her, scanning for any sign of the doughty Tsukasa amongst the bits and pieces of the Arch-Fiend. And remarkably it would seem she needn't look far, but a leap of a few dozen meters away stood her comrade, stationed on the beach with a lively ambience of viability to her, a good sign.

Favorable fortunes always seemed to induce most disagreeable contingencies however, especially with the Monumental's lot. This churlish happening could be on account of the duo of demons, the crusaders of Umbasa, that stood idly over a kowtowing Tsukasa.

Misao entreated with her body to heed the call of battle, but the debilitating and forceful impact had rendered much of her stores of stamina inert. Even to a being of a higher existence like she, the frailties of a human nature shown through her more brusque qualities. She was daft to believe it, but she almost felt positively poignant, to think that an undying wretch like she could still contain the dynamic breath of a human fused somewhere within her decidedly inhuman core.

Yet this same human decrepitude she adored rendered her helpless, and unable to save poor Tsukasa as the demons imposingly loomed. The little one's deeply ingrained compassion saturated her with a hope however, a belief that an arguably kind soul such as Yutaka could find it within whatever remained of her decrepit shell of a heart to spare but one human.

A forbearance of violence that might've just been made reality, her aberrant hearing seemed to pick up on the fragments of a distant conversation, one between Tsukasa and the crusaders. She focused as much strength to her vibrating ears as she could, until the frequency of incomprehensible whispers became words, petrifying words.

"P-Please, take me with you!" An evidently mad, or hopefully so, Tsukasa had implored to what were supposed to be her enemies.

The shorter of the crusaders seemed taken aback, unsure of what to say, but disturbingly unsurprised by the requisition. Despite her fettered tongue, she laid a hand atop the head of the kneeling child, stroking her locks in sickening wonderment.

"Do you know what it is you ask?" Yutaka both asked, and wondered, to the human that craved a slot in her company.

Misao couldn't discern the specifics of Tsukasa's facial features, so she couldn't be sure what it was exactly her friend was thinking, but despite a series of fidgets it didn't take the girl long to reciprocate the integrity of her answer, to a level of prudence akin to the question.

"I…I think so." Tsukasa irresolutely responded, skeptical of her motives, dubious of herself. "I know only what I don't want…more death, more violence. I'd do anything to make sure my friends live long, happy lives…lives lived without taking the lives of others." She spoke once more, and the words stung Misao deeply, how long had Tsukasa felt this way? Her true feelings fettered within, unable to free themselves because of the bounded duty, she forced herself to succumb to violence and chaotic disarray despite herself, for the sake of others. Perhaps the skittish young child wasn't as cowardly as she seemed, to coerce herself under extreme duress always, just for the reward of her friends smiling faces.

Yutaka did not break her gaze; she stared intently into Tsukasa's awaiting eyes, smiling resolutely as her wicked demonic fingers curled around the human's cheeks. "They shall not, the path we are destined shall provide them with harmony everlasting, paradise, this I swear to you." The priestess avowed, darting her eyes deliberately in the direction of the spying Misao , who shook with fright, her body stalled from the detached spear of vision that had found her so easily hidden amongst the fleshly wreckage.

* * *

Tsukasa laughed at the sentiment, a hearty, slightly broken giggle, her tears of sorrow transformed to those of elation. "I…I won't fail you, I…I just…I don't think Kona-Chan is right, violence it…it just can't be the way. There must be a way to ensure that everyone can be happy." She wished trustingly, believing that her desires would be most assuredly fulfilled from under the careful watch of the crusaders.

Yutaka could not lie despite the advantageous circumstance; she had to be sure Tsukasa knew what it was she was getting herself into. "Violence steaks its design amongst our constructs as well, a meeting is inevitable." She affirmed unfortunately, slightly despondent when Tsukasa returned a miffed frown.

"I know." Tsukasa surprisingly understood, standing to meet the Arch-Demon and her handmaid eye to eye. "I must make peace with that…but I will do all I can to ensure I spread the disease of violence as little as possible, be amiable even to my enemies…as you have been to me." Appreciatively she swore, bloated with newfound purpose. Despite the happiness she felt at an alternative to the dark path the Monumental had sent her upon, the instability deep within remained unsettled; her animus towards herself was great. She would be betraying everyone she swore to bear arms side by side with, and even worse, she would be betraying her sister's heart that beat within her, the creature that shared the engendering of life with her from birth, and hopefully until death and beyond.

Yet it was not a betrayal she made lightly, she would happily bare any consequences ushered from her heel turn, and would return to her sisters side if it happened by chance, her decision was not the right one. But a life lived without knowing if Yutaka and Minami were right was torture, surely there had to be a better path, one bereft of ignoble happenings, overflowing with hope.

"I wonder what Onee-Chan would say…? W-When she finds out, she'll probably…hate me." Tsukasa mused aloud, vision stark to the wavy seas, still scanning it for any possible sign of her companions, now former.

"I am unsure." Yutaka honestly professed, ignorant to her companion's whims and convictions, her opinion was one that held no weight in such a question. "But I sense your sister's life overflowing from the cliffs above, and the illuminating brilliance of Izumi and her companions below us, they live. And I imagine that as they continue to live, their lives may shape the very fabric of us all. They shine with such…confidence, I am envious." Singularly she spoke, her emanation vacillating, Tsukasa couldn't help but wonder what it was about Konata Izumi that changed the very tone of her voice.

Yutaka was a woman far beyond her years in both appearance, and doctrine, she spoke in a tone that implied she had existed for a time that couldn't be weighed by digits, and she had seen things so undeniably inscrutable it rendered her changed wholly. But despite this hollow shell, this demure priestess continued to have an energetic breath when she spoke of Konata, someone she had never known, but seemed to respect despite even her very self being held in such pitiful esteem.

Envious of a life like hers, or of the principles of a young, fresh mind, with infinite paths with which to choose from, Tsukasa couldn't be sure. Yet she believed that by traveling with these two, these crusaders for the end of time itself, perhaps she might come to be held in such esteem as well. Perhaps she might be one day be able to stand not idly, but proudly toe to toe with Konata Izumi and not be intimidated by her intrepidity, but enraptured by it, symbiotically linked to it in such a way that she too could face the harshness of reality with only a grin as her shield.

Yet she didn't hold this shield presently, and it bothered her to leave her companions unattended in their strife, mayhap they be injured or worse, but Yutaka apparently sensed their life energies, and she trusted her in this matter. Nothing to be gained from a lie, none within the context that she could see, so the trust was well placed. They were tough, and had endured worse; she had no doubt that she would cross paths with them again, and soon. Wherever Yutaka and Konata were destined, the Arch-Demons called home, it may be a time of much bloodshed, but she hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Tsukasa knew she'd change herself so that wouldn't happen, where their inevitable reunion would be met without the spilling of blood, not her own, not theirs, not the crusaders, and not the Arch-Demons. Unity was the key, she needed only to find the door, and the crusaders would lead her there.

* * *

Caliginous, a true putrefaction of light, the epitome of what it was to glare into a profound state of perception, an incomprehensible sight. What had it been, the ebony quintessence that enraptured her at death's grasp, illusions brought about by unparalleled stress? She had felt the snapping of her bones, the filling of her internals with fatal amounts of fluid, and the last sputtering thoughts and breaths that betrayed nonexistence with their retaliation. But this was no mere fragmented series of demented conscious failings, it was truth, and this reality brought to Konata a most indescribable feeling.

One not unlike the warmth she felt when she initially entered the Nexus during her early travels in Boletaria, it was a feeling of nirvana one could only describe as shedding of a mortal existence, a transcending phenomena, an inescapable pull to higher things. When her body had collided with the murky seas, littered with death, she felt only that same death percolating her entire being, what it truly meant to have an out of body experience.

She had seen herself as she sank deep into the oceans breadth, inches from death, an aggregate mass of red waters throughout the majority of her peripheral vision, what she had seen was surely her own death. A distraught and pained expression, a twisted and mutilated body, but then something happened, something that couldn't be explained with her limited scope of human perceptions.

Her blood had faded in color, perhaps it just comingled with the palette of the sea but this seemed unlikely, it had shaded darker, and bleaker, until her bodily essence resembled a darkened pitch of obsidian. It flowed not unlike a gelatin mass, it writhed and squirmed under the bubbling pressure around it, it had danced about her shattered body, hemming her tightly in its clutch. The blobs of hardening, black blood began to repair her slashed, utterly ravaged body, filling holes made by planks of splintered wood and rock, and closing crevasses of ruptured organs. Perhaps the only part that hadn't filled her with horror more than the water filling her lungs, had been her hand, the mangled fingers upon it slowly but surely had cracked back into place.

The blood shielded her voluntarily, consciously, of its own accord from the falling land mass of the Storm King and its kin above, protecting her as she helplessly struggled to maintain apprehension, no matter how vague. In its subsisting instance, it drew the sustenance to its host required for survival. The black blood extended into flailing masses of tendrils, that lunged and gripped at every available resource, decayed human bodies, shredded demon bodies, and the blood of the fallen.

It seduced them to her core, drawing their nourishment literally into her body. The corpses seemed to phase through her skin, melting, and melding into her insides, filling them with their power. And she felt invigorated by them, stimulated by the bodies that entered her own, it gave her strength, the will necessary to fight against the astounding currents formed by the destruction and swim herself to safety.

This was all Konata could remember from her dip into the sea, waking up a short time later on the beach after her fall was all she was privy to. Her body was healed when she had awoken, but her mind raced to discern the meaning of the supposed dream she had concerning black blood, demons being drawn into her body, and even more horrific things. But breaking her hand was no dream, and yet as she gazed upon her perfectly healthy hand, she knew perhaps there was more to the supposed dream than initially conceived.

Machinations forged from anxiety brought about by the fear she had felt as she fell, it was the only explanation she could conjure, although she had certainly seen more frightful things during her tenure in Boletaria than animate blood. Even were it not simply hallucinations, she didn't have the slightest clue as to what had happened; she had never experienced something like that before. Maybe she was infected with the Dregling virus herself just like Kagami had been, or worse, but that conscious blood of a deep, unforgettable black surely held with it an ominous mystery.

Urgency dictated however, she waste no moments to trifling apprehensions, her allies were in danger or worse, and despite the disorientation that still clung harshly to her body she managed to stand wobbly to begin her search for them.

The beach seemed to be where she had washed up miraculously alive, saved by that eldritch thing, that nightmare of black blood. Debris and residue had tainted the lush sands of the beach red with death, refuse of flesh the size of immature whales were beached upon every small stretch as far as the eye could see. Anywhere the sea met the land, mountains of discarded body parts of the Storm King sprinkled and dotted the landscape, truly a strikingly horrific visage.

To find the by correlation, miniature humans that had stood small atop the broadness of the Storm King amongst this labyrinth of decrepit, obliterated flesh lobes and stony pillars shivered into slag near and far would not be an easy task in the slightest.

But destiny, that oh so unwelcome certainty of intent that seemed to adumbrate all things in her life lately, brought with its shadow the slimy, sop-covered Nanako Kuroi and Hiyori Tamura, the former using her taller body to support the latter as a crutch. They were bumbling, stumbling and swaying down the apogee of the infernal, dampened and stained sands from a slightly elevated incline of beach. Kuroi seemed cognizant, and proffered to the distant Konata a wave of recognition that the two were alive, albeit perhaps not well.

"Yo! Kid!" A ditzy Kuroi shouted amiably, catching herself in a stumble as she approached a thanks be, alive Konata, her master would surely be displeased should any harm come to the young Izumi.

"Sensei!" Konata cooed back, despite her emotional dissonance within, she was still lax to fully analyze what had happened to her when she collided with the sea, and for now it seemed irrelevant. A more bearing topic of relevancy was the quirky mage Hiyori Tamura, who seemed worse for wear than the assassin she used as a walking stick. "She okay?" She inquired obtusely, rather content with the mage's state as of the present, even she would find it hard to not be angry with her when Tamura awoke from her delirium for the antics she had perpetrated atop the Storm King.

"Unfortunately." The liquidator quipped back, unburdening herself with her load by dropping the sorceress to the bloody sand insensitively, gruffly squeezing a bruised, cut shoulder in repose. "Seems that whatever her stupid plan was it worked well, perhaps too well. Any sign of the others?" Kuroi asked cuttingly, at least Konata perceived it as such, for she was surely preparing to ask the same of her.

"Especially Hiyori…" Hiyori added peculiarly, face down in the dirt, spitting up clumps of sand with each word. "Where'd she go? I feel like it's been a long time since I've seen her, how long have I been asleep?" A baffling, and possibly incoherently placed question, it seemed as if the fall had knocked more than a few already loose screws, even looser in Hiyori's mind.

"Oh, she's here." Sarcastically Kuroi ensured, stomping a boot into the whining mage's backside, deriving what would be a most treasured yelp of discomfort. "And here she'll stay, under my boot for the time being, because I gotta say Tamura, I knew you were nuts…but by Umbasa's grace, what in the hell—" Was all the assassin could testily admonish before she saw the billowy, rustic sheen of the soul of Hiyori, fluttering about like a carefree butterfly in the distance but a stone's throw behind the entirely soulless body. Kuroi was certain that Hiyori's soul had retreated back into its cowardly body, but here the evidence seemed to point to the contrary, how was her body still moving and talking without its soul?

Konata followed the lock of her eyes to the sight as well, equally perturbed when she spied the bodiless soul, twirling towards them with the same childish whistles and toots as before. The resplendent bulb halted its shenanigans when it became aware of a conscious, albeit sluggish and disorientated, Hiyori mumbling to herself with a throat full of rough grain. It didn't take the soul long to see her companions were highly disturbed by the fact that despite her body not containing a soul, it still seemed completely aware of its surroundings, and even maintained the ability to vocalize and perceive.

Disconcertedly the shade twirled her soul betwixt those that misunderstood, silencing her whistles as she collided with her body, returning the soul to whence it came. The ravings of the soulless madwoman ceased, and while drowsy, a surprisingly au courant Hiyori snickered gamely, rubbing her neck sheepishly to wipe that messy sweat-induced tension from her leaky pores.

"H-Hey…!" Hiyori greeted shamelessly, crossing her legs snugly with a chirp, doing her best to avoid the scrutinizing eyes shot her way. Acting like she hadn't just retained a consciousness in her body, soul or not.

"Hey yourself." Kuroi reciprocated sarcastically, bending down to a knee to meet the magician eye level. "You gonna tell me what I just saw? With the whole soul not being in the body thing, but the body still being annoying?" She firmly asked, praying for the child's sake they hadn't carted a supposedly ragdoll woman around who the entire time, was obviously perfectly capable of doing so herself, even without her soul.

"W-What?" The sorceress feigned, her insincere tone slipping away when she suddenly remembered that Nanako Kuroi was a dangerous murderer who had plenty of agonizing ways to squeeze blood from stones. "Oh! Oh _that! _Oh yeah, what can I say? You uh…heh, ever hear of the Lazarus reflex? Yeah, yeah it's something…not at all like that, similar in concept though!" Fallaciously Hiyori pushed her luck regardless, intertwining reality with half-truths as she so often did.

"Nah nah nah nah." Kuroi interjected, sliding a powerful arm around Hiyori's slowly tensing neckline. "Try again, what did I just see?" She demanded more inflexibly, giving the child's neck a light squeeze to flaunt her dominance.

Hiyori managed a shivering wiggle to escape the chokehold in no time at all though, seemed she had some practice escaping from threatening grips. Cautiously she backed up from prying eyes, snickering sheepishly until she felt a presence behind her as well, groping blindly until she felt a fortuitously placed breast, which she squeezed absent-mindedly before being thrust forward with a rough shove.

"Looks like I'm just in time for the beat the snot out of Hiyori power hour." The latecomer jeered, cracking her worn knuckles in tune with a loose tongue that could only be held by the drudge, Misao.

"Oh come on guys!" Hiyori quipped, sluggishly massaging a stingy arm. "No need for violence, sure I have one or two secrets! Maybe more like a few hundred in my case, but the point stands, we all have things we can't share with others. Besides, breaking my bones isn't as important as saving poor Kagami! Onward!" She slyly authorized to her compatriots, dismissing herself from their company as she made her way to a distant, spiraling manmade pathway that connected to the upper plateau.

"She's right, we'll kill her later." Kuroi agreed with herself more than anyone, slipping a glance to Misao's person, morosely grimacing at a trail of empty space behind her where the younger Hiiragi sibling should have been. "Where's the little one?" She interrogated glumly, not expecting any agreeable results to spout from such a dismal curl of the lips on the slave.

"She's alright...I brought her up top, she's waiting for us there." Misao lied, stroking her hair back to rid it of excess salt water that stuck around uninvited. "Let's go, what with all of our screwing around I doubt Hiiragi can wait any longer." Rightly she advised, shepherding the remainder of the stragglers to follow Hiyori up the loopy mountain side. Kagami's deliverance from the plague that bound her with a demon's blood had been a long time coming, and the silence amongst the trio proved that squabbling amongst themselves or worrying about their own personal issues was unfair to the damned one. Tsukasa's supposed betrayal could wait until a more opportune time, Misao would make sure of it.

* * *

Bizarrely the trek up a mountainside path roughly a kilometer in length proved manageable and expeditious despite its twisty design, Hiyori mused as she reached the apex of the winding trail that this must've been the hidden path out of the shadowed lands Carrot had spoken to her of, not exactly clandestine considering its secrecy, but it was a way out nonetheless.

Waiting for them amongst the positively apocalyptic looking ruins of the now obliterated shadowed temples, was a collection of brooding, injured individuals, whose groups must've assimilated together to watch the no doubt extraordinary show of the Storm King's demise, or perhaps to tend to one another's abrasions and lacerations. Yui shot a glare of contempt Hiyori's way, thrusting her tongue out in disapproval at the witch who had nearly caved her skull in with a dense rock. Quickly however she surrendered herself to the consolatory clerical arts of Carrot, who seemed to sport a similar head injury that painted the forefront of her face with drippy streaks of blood.

Watching over the motionless, unconscious Kagami was a heavily injured Miyuki, who had innumerable lesions and horrifically, a broken arm. Nonetheless, despite the immeasurable pain no doubt striking her frame, the sorceress offered the returners a carefree smile. Partially at the success of their mission, but mostly at their safety. Perhaps in their anguish, or the precarious circumstances surrounding Kagami's fate, none of them seemed to notice that Tsukasa was absent from their collective.

Hiyori wove her way through the injured, kneeling by the side of the heavily demonified Kagami, who was practically a stroke away from death; nothing would keep her from the underworlds pull now, nothing except the soul of an Arch-Fiend. Ruminating what it was she had to do to successfully complete the ritual, Hiyori loosened the baggy cuffs around her arms to position her hands, the catalysts of the spell crafting arts, over the slowly rising chest of the Dregling.

She let her hands waver, feeling the percolating brush of a demonic aura within the child's body, it beat like a drum in waves of energy. The point of no return was at hand, and were the Storm King's soul not placed within the host immediately there would be no return to humanity, it would be lost eternally. Idly holding her stance for increasingly longer seconds of wasted time, the onlookers couldn't help but notice that Hiyori seemed unsure of herself, was she stalling at this most decisive hour?

"Hey, hurry up!" Misao urged, flicking a hard finger into the back of Hiyori's skull.

Hiyori took the sting woefully, turning back to the others with a smarmy wiggle. "Oh sorry, I was just conjuring up some dramatic tension!" Wickedly she snickered, earning objecting groans from just about everyone present. Kuroi even felt herself subconsciously reaching for a hidden dagger; she really needed to work on placating her anger better, especially when it came to Hiyori.

Genuinely this time, Hiyori clasped her hands together, pressurizing the space between them until they jettisoned apart with a thunderous snap, and in the space left from their conjoined hold, a radiant golden orb. Unlike similar instances in which Konata had seen such a thing, this particular composite of soul energy seemed more unstable, it flickered like a torch caught in the wind, and shivered violently as if to escape the magician's hold. Even in death, the Storm King's soul still seemed as voracious and uncontrollable as in life, it seemed.

Yet Hiyori was no amateur, especially when it came to the soul arts, and despite the Storm King's soul protesting her actions with exacerbated wiggles and snorts, she securely held it in place with no question as to whether or not it would escape.

"Assistant!" Hiyori ordered to somebody left unnamed, yet Carrot was the first to take the passed torch, she figured she was the only one who had any real medical expertise in the context. Hiyori regarded her looming presence, and directed her eyes towards Kagami in accordance with her intent. "I'm going to take her soul out and subsume the Storm King's soul into it…and it's probably going to hur, just be ready for any complications." Seriously she warned to the cleric, the usual unctuous tone of the sorceress all but gone.

Carrot nodded wordlessly, kneeling on the opposite side of the bedraggled sub-human to get leverage, constructing her grip on either side of Kagami's neck, prepared to send signals through her body to end nerve reactions if necessary, should any unneeded convulsions impede the process of soul transference.

Hiyori breathed deeply, steadily keeping her mental ministrations in accordance with the fixed concentration required to keep the Storm King's soul from dissipating. Everything had to be congenial, and carefully implemented, the tiniest mistake could disperse the collective consciousnesses that embodied the Storm King's soul, or the single consciousness that was Kagami's soul. Or worse, Kagami's own soul could be overpowered by the demon's own soul if Konata hadn't succeeded in her metaphysical mind adventures.

Too late for fretfulness though, and the suspense only grew the more Hiyori stalled, so she continued her ritual, trusting in her own abilities despite several past mistakes she had made with others during such a delicate process. Pensively she drew the host soul from Kagami's chest, attracting the soul from its body with the very vigor of a mental pull, yet some success could be equated to her telekinetic prowess as well.

By contrast to the Arch-Fiend's, Kagami's own soul was proportionally diminutive, and bereft of the similar golden sheen that seemed to encompass many great souls. Instead it was a dainty, puffy white, the tiny orb almost resembled a miniature cloud as it wafted about, ambiguously held by Hiyori's increasingly strained mental grip. Were there such a thing as figurative sweaty palms, her mind's fingers were soaked with sweat, they could barely hold onto the human's fluctuating soul, the telekinetic hold wobbled the mass to and fro unstably.

Noticing the aberration, Hiyori scraped her mind for a deviation around the oscillating soul that refused to cooperate. It was odd that despite the soul's evacuation from her body, no tension had arisen from within Kagami, nor were there any unseen interferences that could be detected externally. Even were it a health issue, the soul of a human and the body of a human were two entirely different sciences, and while the soul could have an effect on the body, both negative and positive, it was completely unthinkable for a body to have any outstanding impact on the soul.

Yet for whatever reason Kagami's soul seemed discontent, it wavered by some unseen force, perhaps within her mind Kagami was still struggling to accept Konata's vague instructions to her, or worse, perhaps Konata had failed.

Trying her best to ignore the declination to combine it with the Storm King's soul, Hiyori attempted to absorb the greater essence of the Storm King's soul into Kagami's, noticing the gassy smoke of the demon's soul curl and dance about the human's, yet this is where it remained deadlocked. Despite the badgering, Kagami's soul seemed to refuse entry, and should it remain outside her body any longer, depredation was an assurance. The transference process was failing, and despite her many years researching the topic, Hiyori was vexed, her only theory was that Kagami had decided not to accept the soul, in which case, there was nothing she could do.

"What's wrong?" Nervously Konata asked, approaching Hiyori from behind and looking upon the situation with frightful remorse.

"Ah…well…" Hiyori stuttered, biting her lip in presentiment of bad news. "She's…not accepting the soul…" Contritely she revealed, hiding her eyes from Konata's leering gaze under her shaggy bangs, not wishing to see whatever twisted face of suffering was no doubt plastered across the bluenette's face.

Perhaps it was her earlier confrontations with a congregation of death, her own blood trampling on her perceptions of reality, or an escapade through a loved one's mind, but Konata wasn't as disheartened as she thought she might be despite this troubling news. Speechlessly she knelt, cradling a sleeping Kagami's chin over the perch of her hand, stroking it affectionately.

"Hey Kagamin, I thought we had this talk, eh?" Weakly she confided, moving her cupping hand upwards to instead cradle a cheek. "Please don't tell me I got those dog bite scars on my butt all those years ago for nothing, you gotta trust me here!" Jocularly, yet honestly she pleaded, giving the slumbering tsundere a slight shake to possibly rouse some notion of unconscious understanding from her.

However there was none to be seen, despite the claim that many can subconsciously react or apperceive external stimuli, despite a state of insentience, no such proof could be shown from Kagami's features alone. She wasn't reacting and worse, it almost seemed she was rejecting any attempt made to connect with her. The mental damage from her infectious ordeal, abandonment of her friends, and subsequent attempted suicide no doubt left its share of illimitable scars on her mind, perhaps somewhere deep down; she truly didn't wish to return to a world where she was looked upon by her loved ones as a coward.

Yet this was a field Konata was no mere aspirant of, and while the inner machinations of Kagami sometimes seemed deceptively deep, at least the outer shell of her mind's mold was somewhat easier to dissect. Kagami was a proud woman, if not a bit cavalier, and it was this sense of pride that drove her to better herself in all things, and generously, to assist those she cared about along similar paths of success. Not one to admit faults easily, and not one to openly fess up to mistakes, she didn't take criticism well, and her arrogance would sometimes blind her to a lingering hypocrisy in this regard, in that she often criticized others for similar negative traits that she herself encompassed.

By far Kagami's most outstandingly terrible trait however, staying true even in the current context, was that she bottled her emotions. She kept her loneliness and pain tucked inside where she figured it belonged, ignored it so she could concentrate or from a certain point of view, distract herself from forlornness. It was this same feeling of alienation from her peers that no doubt drove her to abandon her quest of destroying the Arch-Fiends, and her outright refusal to tell her companions of her growing illness of Dregling infection, instead deciding to shovel the mass of problems onto her buckling shoulders alone.

To run from her duty was to betray her companions, and to stay was to endanger their lives, she was damned if she did or didn't, and had obviously decided that even without her skills in the picture their lot stood a better chance without a ticking time bomb standing idly by to possibly kill them all in their sleep. Worse still, for her companions to provide her with deliverance from her illness would be to admit she was too weak to stop it herself, and for them to have to cope with her betrayal in the first place.

Most of this only dawned upon Konata in recent events, and despite an unconscious understanding she had of the deeper constructs of Kagami's psyche, she never really gave it much carefully deep consideration until lately, when the girl showed darker aspects of said ego. She had learned much thankfully, perhaps even enough that now, here at this critical juncture, she could make a difference in a decidedly ineludible fate.

Yet how could she succeed in rousing Kagami from her mental lapse? Kagami did not want to be pitied, she didn't want to be helped, yet contrarily, she didn't wish to be alone. How would one avoid sympathy while being supportive, while simultaneously attempting to get closer to a person that mentally thrives on pushing people away? Solving the issue of persuading Kagami to come around to her rejuvenation seemed to truly be the archer's paradox of a human mind, what she sought surely wasn't something she initially thought usable against her; she'd have to delve into unfamiliar territory to subdue the rattled mind of Kagami.

While arousing her over fluffed ego seemed like an easy enough route to take, Konata was never the best liar, and an artificial argument wasn't the type of incentive she required to ensure Kagami that her return to the mortal realm would be a pleasant one. Instead, Konata decided to strike at the less obvious target, Kagami's fear of isolation. A fear that eventually Kagami would have to realize was one that she didn't carry alone.

"Y'know Kagamin…" Konata began whimsically, chuckling to herself bashfully before she continued. "The morning before we left, to find my dad I mean…I stood at the town gate for about, oh, five or six hours before you guys showed up. I walked about a hundred feet from town at least a dozen times in that span of time, but every time I kept coming back to wait for you and the others." She recounted hoarsely, only recognizing the unintelligibility of her tone as she went on, it seemed to be an authentically painful memory, a rarity for the young Izumi.

The others dared not intrude in her spiel, silencing themselves to allow for a brave-faced Konata to pull their companion back to them, knowing she was likely the only one who could.

"In a lot of ways…I think I knew it was selfish to ask you guys to come, so I kept trying to go off by myself and failing spectacularly. Weird right? Even I think of other people's feelings _sometimes!_" Konata joked as if failure and selfishness was per her usual routine, despite the sharpness of the cutting comment made on her own behalf. "It's pretty obvious to me now why that was; hard to believe but…even I get scared sometimes. The more the thought about it, the more I thought it'd pretty scary, eating and sleeping alone, traveling alone, fighting demons alone. Waking up each day knowing I might never see you again, or dad and Yui, or Miyuki and Tsukasa…" Dawdling in her explanation, Konata paused in her grief, sighing despondently; it was hard admitting such human failings in front of so many people, harder still because it was so uncharacteristic of her to do so.

"It's alright, Izumi-San." Erroneously Miyuki reassured, catching her stifling breath as Carrot mended her fractured arm. Miyuki wished only for Konata to be comfortable at this time, the poor girl was never the best at shedding the weight of inner burdens; it was difficult for her to even comprehend them. Perhaps Konata's cocky, perpetually smarmy attitude was sometimes just a way to make up for not being able to properly convey her true emotions.

"And I feel it again now." Konata continued, resting a hand on Kagami's sweaty shoulder. "That same fear, that loneliness…because I'm afraid you're gonna die and I'm never gonna see you again. You probably wouldn't even visit me as a ghost, you'd be too busy being the devil's consort and damning baker's souls to hell for making sweet treats too irresistible. B-But how you are even…how are you even gonna get mad at me for saying that if you don't wake up now, right now! And smack the stupid grin clear off my face!?" That masking, farcical jesting that Miyuki had thought about seemed to surface again, it showed strongly in the bluenette's face, for there was nary a smile to be seen despite her attempt at humor. Konata wasn't one to cry, but her contorted face shown more agony than any tears could, awash with a paramount degree of fear.

Hiyori shiftily eyed Kagami's soul for any change in pattern, or that the antagonistic fluctuation may have ceased, but it remained consistent. No change could be seen from before, Konata's words seemed to have no effect, Kagami's soul continued pushing against the intruder, disallowing entry. While incapable of speech, by its actions it seemed to choose death. While sometimes rather nihilistic and callous in her dealings, even Hiyori couldn't help but feel a bit depressed; surely these poor girls hadn't gone through all this to be reunited, only for such a disastrous outcome? It seemed almost inexcusable.

"Plus I never…" Konata spoke, reeling her hands from Kagami's body in disconcertion. "I never got to tell you…" Again she awkwardly initiated, suddenly, and despite the current atmosphere, and without warning she felt her mental lobes burning with passion, the birth of an idea.

In a confusing and positively diacritic shift in tone Konata began chuckling to herself playfully, yanking up the lower hem of Kagami's tattered shirt to cup her hands on either side of her friend's waist, pinching slightly pudgy lobes of soft, squishy fat between her nipping hands.

"I never got to tell you about all the weight you've gained recently! Your jelly rolls have jelly rolls, even as a demon you can't shed that adorable tuft of fat, huh?" Rambunctiously she asseverated, content with her ploy of disparaging over a more personal confession, if this failed then there truly was no way Kagami would snap out of her rut. Making Kagami angry was usually the best method to achieve success anyhow, for she only showed her true feelings when she was at the brink of an aneurysm bore from frustration.

Hiyori batted her eyes in astonishment, partially from the fact that somebody other than her had the gall to make mocking revelations at inappropriate times, and doubly concerning Kagami's soul within the palm of her telekinetic mind. The human's soul buoyed in a fuss, hurriedly immersing its collective mass around that of the Storm King, absorbing the larger clot of soul energy into itself, inaugurating the process of the soul transference.

The colliding consciousnesses vied for dominance for a brief instance, but Kagami's managed to wholly devour the much larger orb into her own far smaller, achromatic one. The result was an erratic eruption of energy that ruptured every from corner of the bulb, discharging blasts of soul energy into the skies above. And despite this minor exigency, Hiyori managed to contain the wild soul, easily pressing the newfound fusion of human and demon into Kagami's body intangibly and pushing it directly through flesh and bone like phase matter, straight into the chest cavity.

An explosion of forceful heat proved their success in the ritual, but also sent the huddling group aimlessly flying every which way, tumbling and bouncing and rolling. They barely had enough time regain composure and look on as Kagami's body was lifted from the ground by that same coercion of power alone, floating fastidiously before plopping upwards to its feet, shaking the final quivers of electrical current from her vibrating arms and legs before ceasing, erasing the golden hue that had taxed Kagami's lifeless body as the soul entered it.

The warped appearance of a Dregling that had so unsuitably tainted her beforehand slowly peeled itself from her body, literally, the dead blackened plates and aged wrinkles seemed to slide and fall from her body like dry skin. The wounds made by her own hand, and others similarly knitted themselves inward, repairing the veritable disarray of countless injuries and fractures, contusions and stains of old and new blood. It rejuvenated her utterly destroyed body, returning it to normal just as Hiyori promised it would.

The yellow hue present in a demon's eyes faded from Kagami's own, and her jagged claws and teeth were soon to follow, grating themselves into far more appealing human statures.

As the process of revitalization and the renewal of her human spirit came to an end, wordless and still Kagami stood, breathing smoothly unlike before now that her throat was free of phlegm and rasp. Despite likely needing a moment to catch the familiar tune that had been eluding her this past while, she instead took it upon herself to flash her eyes open in a tiff, and charge like a wild animal past the disorientated and disorganized congregation about her.

She leapt like a jaguar, barring her teeth as she came crashing down on a wobbly Konata, sweeping the two of them from their feet and slamming her knees into the dirt over Konata's own, locking her in place with a powerful hold to the azure knight's wrists. Had they failed? Had Kagami remained trapped with a demon's husk after all? Or worse, had the Storm King's soul been too much for a human mind?

"You try keeping a slim figure when you think about food constantly!" Kagami snarled like a demon, but surprisingly, did not seem to be one. "Seriously, being a demon is all about food, food, food! I can't tell you how often I thought about eating souls…" Bitterly, but upon closer examination, jokingly she pouted, relieving Konata of her forceful grip and standing up off the girl, extending a hand for assistance in standing.

"Ha…" Konata chuckled, too inundated with sappy, warm euphoria to even think about making a joke. She took the hand with pleasure, allowing her tiny body to be pulled upward. She caught her balance not as easily as she hoped, but Kagami was there to catch her, and as she felt those hands on her arm that she had become so accustomed to, it finally broke her tough girl attitude with little effort.

She surrendered herself to the warm space between Kagami's arms, burying herself into the girl's collar bone yearningly, beaming when she felt Kagami's chin convivially plant itself atop her head as she returned the hug. The two stood speechlessly, indulging in one another's heat, basking in familiar smells beget from the other, and enthusiastically returning to the tirade of old, fervently beautiful feelings.

"Welcome back, Kagamin." Konata greeted with love, complacently sighing with reprieve in the sacred personal space of the one she adored, never intending to let her out of her sight again. Never intending to ignore seemingly trivial feelings again as mere passing animosity, she truly wished to try and help Kagami deal with her personal concerns, no matter what they entailed. Surely though, a joke here and there couldn't hurt, or maybe a joke every few minutes, perhaps that was a fair trade for being more sympathetic to her friend's plight.

"Good to be back." Kagami agreed, cradling Konata's head with complaisant, recurring rubs of her long blue hair. As she did so, she quizzically gave a peak at her surroundings, and of the many eyes locked onto her at that moment, some friends, some vaguely familiar, and some she had never even seen before. Synonymously, her environment of endless destroyed buildings heaped into mountains of rubble certainly seemed unfamiliar as well. "By the way, where am I and what's going on?" She questioned appropriately, looking downward at Konata, seriously expecting some answers.

"Oh, crazy, crazy stuff." Was all Konata could reply with, whimpering with joy as she was held. "Oh, speaking of, you have a demon's soul in your body now." She added lamentably as a joke, and to nobody's surprise at all, Kagami's initial reaction was to discard Konata from her arms and send her flailing to the unforgiving dirt, where she would receive no hugs.

"What!?" Kagami screamed in horror, recalling at that moment just who it was she had practically spooned with; she had anticipated something like this to happen in her absence. Just by whose gall and decree was she made to suffer so? Still, as she looked down at the one who captivated her time and time again, unashamedly laughing at Kagami's freak out, she couldn't disagree that suffering certainly had its benefits.

* * *

A top an adjacent cliff side surveying the obliterated church grounds, a trio of figures hid in plain sight, vigilantly observing the recent scuffle that had taken place between Konata and her companions, the crusaders of Umbasa, and of course the Arch-Fiend. The masked witch at their front had exhausted what little patience she previously held, and while the results of Konata's recent successes were pleasing, she couldn't help but wonder if she needed a little push of assistance.

"Two down." The distinguished, yet still strangely enigmatic voice spoke to its nearby accomplices. The two armored women behind her kneeled, despite their pride, to their new employer. They couldn't disagree, the masked witch did indeed pay well, she had brought them to exactly those they desired, a payment made in full before a contract was even completed was surely a rarity.

"Barely!" The brusquer looking of the two knights scoffed, rubbing her chestnut curls habitually with a jarring sneer. "I thought for sure they were mince meat, you weren't joking that they were tenacious at any rate, though." She derided, feeling an elbow-jerk from her companion, remembering that they were in the presence of an employer, certain etiquette was deemed absolute in such dealings.

"Which is exactly why I have hired you two." The witch surprisingly agreed, pressing a finger to the temple hidden beneath her golden mask in thought. "Those crusaders of Umbasa, kill them. They may have been useful tools in the past, but I can't have them interfering again, or perish the thought, causing any lasting harm to Konata Izumi. Normally I'd send my slave or that assassin Nanako Kuroi to do this deed…but alas, they prove more inept by the day." Woefully she lamented, respiring unenthusiastically.

"And what of Izumi's companions? They will surely react quite strongly when we attempt to accept our 'payment'." The more dutiful and composed of the twp barb-armored knights asked of her employer.

"Brave of you to speak of spoils, considering the job is not yet done. But do with them what you will, it matters not. However, do not harm Izumi in any of your dealings, that is my only warning I shall give you. " Hardened were her words, but her newest mercenaries had no objections to the simple rule.

"Easy enough." The rougher of the knights concluded aloud.

"I should hope so." The witch muttered, unmistakably annoyed by the dragoon with the looser tongue. "And when the crusaders lay dead, the Hiiragi twins are yours, temper this thought into your mind, burn it there as to remind you of the significance of the job at hand…and the remuneration for your deeds." Suggestively she proffered this advice, grinning mischievously underneath her weighty mask.

The duo of dragoons seemed complacent with these boundaries, and conscious of their competence, they had no mixed feelings about their success.

They needed only kill a couple of half-baked, empathy-fueled amateurs of demon brood, and then secure the Hiiragi twins as payment. A job as easy as any to dragoons, a lifetime of battling dragons made demons seem almost like child's play in comparison, they had no doubt of their success. Besides, it had been far too long since the two knights had seen the twins; they were simply dying for a reunion.

* * *

**Author's Note: **No note. My thoughts are as boring to you as they are to me. Have a new chapter, though.


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